


Chosen

by bamboozledeagle



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), PKNA - Paperinik New Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Family, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-03-16 15:20:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 45,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13638903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bamboozledeagle/pseuds/bamboozledeagle
Summary: Donald finds his first pokemon when he's five. At the same time his sister is chosen by Ho-Oh. A Magikarp can't really compete with that, but Donald doesn't mind. It's enough to know his sister is going to be okay. As time goes on, however, he deals with the fact that he'll never be enough for his family. At least he has his pokemon.





	1. Donald

**Author's Note:**

> Cranked this out today. I've had this plot bunny in my head for a while. The chosen parts are loosely based off of surfacage's pokemon go comic series on tumblr. Go check it out!

He finds Aqua when he's five years old. The Magikarp is stuck in a net on the riverside and Donald literally trips over the poor thing. He's walking the riverside by himself while Della is playing with friends. 

"Are you sure?" She'd asked. 

"Yeah." he had signed back. While she could understand him verbally just fine, other kids leapt at the opportunity to laugh at him about his voice. So, more often than not, he would communicate through sign language. 

He ended up wandering down to his favorite spot in the park while she played. 

He lets out a gasp of horror at the sight of the poor fish, his anger at whatever had tripped him vanishing at the sight of it. It doesn't look good. He untangles the Magikarp and runs to the nearest Pokécenter, leaving his sister and parents behind. The lady at the counter whisks it away and within minutes the fish is just fine. She asks if he'd like to see it and without a second thought he nods. It's happily swimming in its tank and the sight makes Donald smile. 

He'd saved it. 

The Magikarp stops when it sees him, its wide, round eyes assessing him. 

"Seems he knows you saved him." The lady hums. The Pokémon swims in rapid circles and jumps out into his flailing arms. He panics and tries to get it to stay in the water, but it doesn't want to leave him. The nurse giggles.

"Here." She says, handing him a pokéball. 

"What's this for?" He signs rapidly, doing his best to keep the fish in the tank. He glares at it; doesn't it know it'll hurt itself if it keeps this up?

"For him." She replies, gesturing to the Magikarp still flopping against his cheek, his hands are the only thing keeping the darn thing in the tank. 

He takes the pokéball and the Magikarp leaps into it with gusto. He's soaked, his face and hands have scratches from the rough scales, and he has a Pokémon.

"Are you going to give him a nickname?"

He furrows his brow, thinking as hard as a five-year-old can. He signs the letters "A-Q-U-A" at her. 

"Aqua huh? I like it." She ruffles his hair and he rushes back to the park to show his family. He's excited and happy and he can't wait to see their reactions. Pride bubbles in his chest. When he gets there, however, they're hovered around Della. He runs over, Aqua forgotten and asks if she's alright. "What happened?" He signs quickly, looking her over for injuries. 

"Donald you won't believe it! I saw Ho-Oh!" 

"Who?"

"This big, pretty bird-" Her voice stops reaching him when he sees red on her shoulder. He whirls her around and pulls her shirt collar down so he can see the injury. He expects a cut, a gash, a bruise, instead he finds a tattoo. The family gasps and what happens next is a blur. Doctor appointments and Pokémon Professors take up the next month. "She's not hurt. She's been marked by Ho-Oh. No, we don't know what it means. That little girl must be something special." They say.

Aqua is an afterthought, left in the dust, and he doesn't mind so much. As long as his sister is going to be okay. Ma notices his Pokémon a couple weeks later. He's taking a bath with his new partner and she enters to tell him he has ten minutes left before they go to see another doctor. She's understandably surprised to find an extra being in a tub that should only be holding one. He tells her about what happened, and she smiles at him, proud. It's exactly the reaction he had been hoping for and it's the last time he sees her smile at him before the car crash. 

…

Captain becomes his the same time Ace becomes Della's. They're six and Grandma thinks they're ready for their starters. Unknown to both of them, she's hoping the Pokémon will help them cope. She's pulled some strings to get them their starters so early, but Della's status as Ho-Oh's Chosen helps. Outside of Grandma, some Professors, and a few Doctors, no one else knows. 

There are times where Donald is sure they both picked the wrong Pokémon. Charmander is always trying to prevent Della from breaking something in her quest for adventure, just as Donald nearly has a heart attack every time Squirtle tries to jump off the roof to show him a new trick. But then there are moments where he and Captain race across the pond while Della and Ace see who can climb the highest and he can't imagine them picking any other Pokémon. 

As for Aqua, he and Captain had a rough start where Aqua was unwilling to share his Trainer. It took a while for Donald to realize what the problem was, but with his Grandmother's help Donald shuts it down quickly. The two Pokémon got along just fine afterwards. 

…

His next two Pokémon come at the same time of the same day. He's 13 and upset that his grandma is sending them to live with Uncle Scrooge for the summer. He remembers the old coot making his mother cry and he still hasn't forgiven the man for it, but Grandma thinks that Scrooge, being Heatran's Chosen, can help Della. So Donald doesn't have a choice, not if he wants to stay by his sister's side. 

He stumbles across Keldeo and Mankey as they're about to take Grandma's potatoes. It's a long day that starts with a chase and ends with an understanding. He follows the two across town, raving and ranting the whole way. The Mankey turns around abruptly and they wrestle, he comes out on top because the McDuck family temper is nothing if not an unstoppable force. That might be when Mankey takes a liking to him, he's not sure, but once he's done patching the Primate Pokémon up, she won't leave his side. Keldeo came back while he was patching the Mankey up and it takes a bit to get him to warm up to Donald, but Keldeo refuses to leave his friend alone. By the end of the day he has two new companions. 

Keldeo accepts Donald a week later, though he isn't ever sure why. If he could ask Keldeo, the Pokémon would have told him it was when he once again saved Captain from breaking his neck - when he and Allision both agreed that anger is a painful emotion - when he cheered on Aqua once the Pokémon finally learned tackle despite it being such a simple move. It was when he took Keldeo across the world with his Uncle to unknown places. Keldeo loves to travel and Donald acknowledges that. He lets Keldeo stay outside his ball when they go and the freedom he affords the Pokémon - the sheer amount of love he holds for his team, makes him worthy in Keldeo's mind. He becomes Killick soon after. 

…

Donald isn't sure which of his Pokémon first learns aqua ring. He remembers being in his bed with a raging fever and gritting his teeth through the frostbite tearing at his flesh. He supposes that he really should have seen it coming what with being stuck in an ice block for the entire trip home. He doesn't remember much but he does remember the feel of his Pokémon surrounding him and brief moments of relief brought about periodically. With every moment, the pain fades a little more. He wakes in the pool. Captain, now a Wartortle, is below him with the rest of his water Pokémon, keeping him floating in the water. His head rests on Killick's back, the Pokémon settled on the edge of the pool as Allision curls into his neck, just under his chin. They're surrounded by a ring of water. Killick's horn is glowing and when it fades, Aqua takes over. He sits up as much as he can in the water. His Pokémon scatter to let him up. It's almost dawn and he's freezing, but he feels better than he has in a long time.

"Have you fellas been up all night healing me?" He asks bewildered. He's answered with a sudden cuddle pile. His Pokémon look exhausted and he brings them all close to him.

"Thank you", he says, softly.

He may not have Scrooge's attention or love, he may not have Della protecting his back anymore, but he does have his Pokémon. He wishes that were enough for him and it frustrates him that a part of him wants his family to love and care for him as much as his Pokémon do. He doesn't voice this, but he does cry. 

"I love you guys." He whispers and lets them rest. He gives them all treats when they wake up and he ignores Scrooge's scowl. His Uncle's Persian turns its nose up and follows after Scrooge. He doesn't care. He doesn't. He's accepted that nothing he does will ever make his Uncle happy. 

There's no doubt in his mind that all of his Pokémon have noticed that Scrooge doesn't treat them the same way he treats Della's. He praised her after she came back with Bagon and Talonflame, but barely glanced Donald's way when he came back with Horsea, soon to be called Hawser. He'd look upon Aqua with something akin to disdain, though he didn't call the Pokémon worthless anymore after the first time. Both twins had given him nasty looks and scolded him for it. The only Pokémon Donald had that Scrooge even noticed was Killick and even that was rare and overshadowed by Della's other Pokémon. Yes, all of Donald's Pokémon noticed the difference in praise, but they didn't seem to care as long as their trainer praises them. And Donald does, he showers them in love and praise, and that's enough for them. He hopes it's enough for them. 

…

When the twins got their starters they made a promise to each other. If Della was going to be the world's greatest pilot, then she would have to be the best air-type trainer as well. Donald swore the same, but instead of a pilot he would be a sailor and be the best water-type Pokémon trainer in the world. Without realizing when exactly it happens, Della does it. They're seventeen and Della brings it to his attention as he makes breakfast. 

"Look Don! We're in the Country's Top Ten Strongest Trainers!" 

"What? Really?" Scrooge is the strongest normal-type as usual, Della is finally number one in air-type, and Donald is fourth in water-type. 

"I did it!" Della squeals, "And you're so close too!"

Donald can't help but smile at his twin's glee. He tosses some blueberries into the pancake mix for celebration. 

"I gotta show Uncle Scrooge!" She gushes and runs out. He freezes. In her wake, he can already see his Uncle scolding him for not keeping up with Della, he can already feel the disappointment from half way across the mansion. He flinches when his Uncle steps into the kitchen. He doesn't know if he's relieved or disappointed when his Uncle ignores his presence entirely in favor of Della and blueberry pancakes.

...

He gets Poliwag when he joins the military. The little thing is trying to get on board the ship and apparently it’s a notorious little thing that just wants to help, but no one is willing to put up with. Donald shrugs and invites it into his party. He can relate to the tiny creature's desire to be useful but ultimately failing every time. He names it Nipper. 

His service isn't something he likes to talk about. He comes back with a Poliwrath, a Blastoise, a Kingdra, and a Primeape. He's also got a tattoo on his back where Della's is. Instead of a brightly covered bird, however, it's a silver and blue...thing. He's not sure if it's a dragon or a bird, Lugia failed to mention what he was other than the guardian of the sea. 

He doesn't tell his family about the tattoo or the medal he comes home with nor does he tell them what happened. How can he? There were so many bodies, so much destruction. He almost died, many of his friends did die, and the loss and trauma are too much for him to speak of. The medal means nothing, Lugia even less. He doesn't want the attention he'd longed for, for so long, at the cost of his friends and comrades. 'And besides,' a little voice whispers, 'The sea is mine, not Della’s, and they'll just bring up how you failed to actually save anyone.' So, he doesn't say anything. 

He's sure he's made the right decision when the first thing he hears from his family is Gladstone's, "You're Magikarp still hasn't evolved?" His grandma smacks him upside the head, like she always does when he brings it up. The familiarity is welcome, and a very small part of him knows his cousin is just trying to help, but in that moment the last little bit of hope he held of making his family proud dies. 

Scrooge and Della aren't there to welcome him home. 

He doesn't notice that he's the strongest water-type Trainer in the world. 

…

Lugia is a silent presence in the back of his mind and the ocean calls to him all the more. He buys a house boat and figures that will be the end of it. Being a Chosen is much more boring than he thought it'd be what with how much his family had gushed over Della being Ho-Oh's Chosen. Scrooge makes being Chosen out to be something special, something to be proud of. He always talks about how he didn't wait for a Pokémon to come around on a whim and chose him, but went out and found Heatran and demanded an audience. It's one of Scrooge's proudest moments and he adored that his niece was picked at such an early age. 

Then there's Gladstone. 

The Gander family was always a favorite of Jirachi's, according to Lugia, but Gladstone was the first of them to be Chosen. Scrooge clearly didn't know, otherwise he'd regard his nephew with less disappointment. Belatedly, Donald wonders if Scrooge would do the same to Donald if he found out he was Lugia's Chosen. Bitterly he reminds himself that his cousin isn't regularly used as cannon-fodder, chosen or not. 

Donald shoves the thoughts away and gets a job as an accountant. A week later, he gets a call. It's Panchito and Jose, they want to show him South America like they'd promised when he'd met them on one of his shore leaves. He agrees, and they pick him up from the airport the next day. 

They spend the year touring from place to place. They teach him how to speak Spanish and Portuguese, they show him how to dance, they treat him to local foods that he immediately gets the recipes for, they introduce him to the guitar, they throw him (willingly) headfirst into traditions both national and local. He's happy. He's so happy with them and their friendship is easy to sink into. Their Pokémon get along well, they don't shove him into portals, they're patient with his temper, and they never make fun of his voice. It was actually how they met. Some guy had been going on about Panchito's red coloring and Jose's small stature. Donald, who had been talking to them at the time got mad at the man. When he said something, though, he quickly became the next target of ridicule, but his new companions stood up for him. It was the best bar fight he's ever been in. He laughs with them more than anyone else, even Della. If only their adventures were more like this, but they're not and he doubts they ever will be, so he enjoys himself up until his sister calls him. 

They tell him he doesn't have to go. “Family helps Family.” He tells them. They look sad, before he tells them they fall under the 'Family' category and if they ever need anything to just call. They return the sentiment, still worried for him, but grinning. 

…

He learns later that the reason Della called hadn't been so he could steer the ship they were taking to and from the next obscure ancient civilization, but to have one last adventure with him before she became too far into her pregnancy to go on another one for a while. Her Pokémon hover over her, Charizard more than the others, and Donald notices she's got an Altaria, Salamence, Dragonair, and Talonflame now. She commented briefly on his own newly evolved Pokémon, but Scrooge had simply scoffed at Aqua again. Donald is numb to it, too enraptured in the thought of being an Uncle. He doesn't care who the father is, he was clearly unimportant if he couldn't even stick around for the duckling that is on the way. 

Della lays her egg, sticks around long enough to see three hatchlings break their way out, and then disappears. All in a single month. He takes the children to his houseboat and tries to call Scrooge twice before breaking the phone. He sighs, fine, if the man wants to avoid his nephews let him. Donald has things to do anyway. 

He gets custody of the boys and he sets aside money to start saving for college if that's what the boys will ever want. His status as a veteran will help them get into some colleges, but not all. He sells most of his clothes and other luxuries, so he can buy them cribs and other baby things. He's got money left over from the military, but he knows he's bad with jobs and it's better to start saving now. 

Then, he lets his Pokémon go. He may be saddled with three babies (giving them up was never an option), but his Pokémon don't need to be as well. 

"I'm sorry" he tells Killick, "I won't be going on anymore adventures and I know you like to travel the world, so I won't hold you here."

"If you want to leave, I understand." He tells the rest. Aqua evolved when he took in the kids "Some things are more important." he'd told him. 

Allision is the only one that stays. It's a very sad affair, but they visit regularly, he lives on a house boat after all. 

He raises the kids as best he can, but one child is hard enough let alone three. It gets easier as they get older. He has a brief scare over Louie's lack of interest in standing and Dewey's lack of interest in talking, but it turns out to just be their personalities. Allision is a huge help for a creature ruled mostly by anger. She chases off anyone or anything that even glances at the babies. As the nephew and niece of the richest duck in the world, assassins and thugs have occasionally targeted and/or tried to kidnap him and Della. The children are simply three new targets and Allision is a relief in that regard. 

…

An exhausting year goes by, and Donald swears he's lost at least twenty years of his life, when Aqua shows up with a tiny Magikarp. He nudges it towards him. "You want me to take her?" Aqua rumbles, pleased. He sighs fondly and names the little one Agua. It takes a month for him to figure out Agua doesn't like fighting and seems happy just helping Donald clean the house. He starts to understand why Aqua brought Agua to him. The children are enamored with both his Pokémon. They start imitating them and he nearly faints when he finds all three toddlers on top of the house boat. He scolds Allision for letting them up there and for nearly giving him a heart attack. 

Another year and he wakes up to three beasts standing outside his house. Suicune, Entei, and Raikou are all loitering outside in the dead of night. He's still got bags under his eyes and only the sounds of his boys crying could wake him at this point, but Lugia is suddenly very up in his face and telling him to get up. They're here to see the children. Apparently, Donald and Lugia both have nephews they're acting as parents for and the beasts wish to see if any of the children are worthy of being Chosen. Lugia and Ho-Oh have rarely had chosen before and this is the first time Chosens have been so compatible with their Choosers. It's very likely that one or all of the children will be a Chosen. Lugia reveals the bird trio had already done a couple fly-byes and not felt anything for the children. 

Donald is not entirely in control of his body when he brings the sleeping toddlers out. The reaction is immediate, and Donald knows what's happened. "Don't mark them yet, they're still children." He forces out and the beasts acknowledge his request by merely pressing their noses against their Chosen's forehead. "We will be back when they are older and ready." Entei says. They leave, and Donald is left stunned and on his knees cradling the boys, exhausted. Lugia leaves him and settles back into the back of his mind.

…

He finds Azumarill and Togepi when the boys are four. It's storming out and the two had taken shelter in the house boat. He lets them stay and gives them some food. The kids love them. He starts to debate the pros and cons of giving them Pokémon. The storm ends but the Pokémon don't want to leave. Togepi is clumsy but is devout in his attention to the boys. Azumarill loves to play with them. Donald rolls his eyes, they're all lucky he started saving early. The Azumarill becomes Mizzen and the Togepi becomes Tramper. 

…

He gets a call from Goofy late one night when the boys are six. His wife is in the Hospital and it doesn't look good. 

He leaves the boys with his Grandmother and rushes over. He watches little Max while Goofy sits with his wife. Mickey doesn't know how to deal with children so the mouse helps Minnie cook food for the grieving family. 

The funeral is as nice as a funeral can be, but he couldn't be prouder of his boys when they behave the entire time. He tells Goofy that he's already got three little ones to look after and one more won't make a difference if he ever needs someone to watch Max for a few days. His friend thanks him and Goofy's Wobbuffet pats the grieving husband's hand consolingly while Tramper settles on his head. 

He takes the boys home and soon enough they start asking about their own mother. He isn't sure what to tell them. All Della left was a note, how do you explain this to a child? He tells them she loved them and that she's not around anymore. He doesn't want to give them the hope that she'll come back when he's already started to give up hope himself. Better to spare them now and be pleasantly surprised later if she does ever return.

They ask about their dad. Donald is honest with them, he doesn't know who or where their father is, he's never met him. They ask if they can call him dad. The thought doesn't settle well with him. They're Della's kids, not his. He tells them that they can call him Uncle Donald as they always have. He still gets a card every Father’s Day. 

…

Donald’s plan to give the boys Pokémon once they reached their thirteenth birthday is dashed when all three come home with a trio of Pokémon they inexplicably bonded with. He knew the boys were sneaking off, but he hadn’t anticipated them running off to go play with a group of Pokémon.

“We found them in the park!” Huey grins.

“Can we keep them?” Dewey begs with his best puppy eyes.

“We’ll pick up our room.” Louie bargains. 

They’re nine and he can already see the bond between trainer and Pokémon. Huey’s Pansear is holding his hand, Dewey’s Panpour is on his shoulders, and Louie’s Pansage is on the couch next to him. Donald thinks about their funds, thinks about his own first Pokémon, thinks about Della, takes another look at the boys and their Pokémon, and decides.

“As long as you clean your room.”

The boys’ resulting cheers make the next month worth it. He likes ramen anyway. 

…

The boys are thirteen and he’s never seen them so scared. Magica, Mewtwo’s Chosen, is back and she’s got Donald tied and hovering over the open ocean. She ambushed them at night and by the moonlight he can see that Scrooge and Gladstone are with the children and Launchpad at the bow of the ship. Their Pokémon are trapped in a hex by Magica’s Mismagius. His family is helpless, his children are helpless. Lugia is not happy with this. Magica says something but Donald doesn’t care, he will not be used against his boys, he refuses. He brings his feet back and slams them against the Beagle Boy holding him. 

“Uncle Donald!” He hears them scream as he falls into the water. The ropes prevent him from swimming, so he sinks. It’s dark and cold, he’s always wanted to be laid to rest at sea, but not like this. He hopes Scrooge figures a way out, he hopes Gladstone’s luck doesn’t fail. The image of his family in such a desperate situation won’t leave him, however. He may have given them better odds without a hostage, but he still worries. 

He worries and he sinks. 

The ocean is so dark he doesn’t notice the enormous being headed for him at insane speeds. He doesn’t realize anything is charging his way until something grabs him and takes him away. His head breaks the surface and he inhales. The ropes fall away. He opens his eyes. He sees the ship in the distance and his head is on something soft, his back supported by something familiar. He turns and it’s Killick in a different form, he’s not sure what, but there’s no way the Keldeo isn’t Killick, he’d recognize his Pokémon anywhere. Captain moves out from under him to let him float. Hawser is using aqua ring to his right, Nipper is holding the ropes, and Aqua looms over them all. 

“You’re back.” He breathes, amazed and then his mind snaps out of it. “My kids. We have to help them.”

Lugia pushes his way to the front of Donald’s mind, they’re both in control this time, merged, with one goal in mind.

“We are going to help them. Let’s go.” They say.

The situation on the boat isn’t great. Donald is gone and if they don’t act soon he won’t be coming back. Louie is begging Gladstone to do something. Dewey is in shock. Huey is being restrained by Webby. They need a plan now. 

“Hey Mister McDee? What’s that?”

“Not now Launchpad.” Scrooge hisses, the Beagle Boys backing the group up. The men haven’t stopped snickering and sneering. Magica herself is smirking despite her loss of a hostage. 

He glances at his dime.

He opens his mouth, “Alright Magica, you- “

The boat rocks violently. The Beagle Boys and their Pokémon stumble as two large, dark forms flip over the family's heads and land between them and Scrooge’s enemies. The blasters on the Blastoise shine in the moonlight and the Poliwrath next to it settles into a fighting pose he recognizes. A haunting roar pierces the night’s silence and a Gyrados is silhouetted against the moon to their left. A Keldeo sprints across the water and lands behind their enemies with a war cry. The Beagle boys move away from the Pokémon only to be blasted by a Kingdra down in the water. 

Magica snarls, “What is this?”

“Most people call it a coup.” A very familiar voice answers from atop the Gyrados.

“Don-" Scrooge starts but stops when he sees his nephew’s glowing, slitted, silver eyes.

“Uncle Donald!” Dewey cries happily and Gladstone has to throw himself over the child to stop him from running over.

“Hate to break it to you kid but that isn’t Double D.” He says, gripping the duckling close to him.

Scrooge has never heard Gladstone sound so panicked before. If he’s honest he’s a little nervous as well. 

“What? How can that not be Uncle Donald?” Huey asks, still irritated.

“Launchpad.” Scrooge says, deathly calm. “Grab the children and get behind Gladstone and I. We have no idea who that is or what their intentions are.”

The kids shout their protests, but Launchpad is nothing if not loyal.

“And who might you be?” Magica asks, annoyed. 

Not-Donald deadpans, “The tooth fairy." then huffs,"Had you not trained your minds to block your Choosers out, you would have been able to see.”

“Every person that lets you lot in, ends up going mad. You are the fool for not doing the same.” Magica sneers

“It is a balance as most everything is.” Not-Donald shrugs, “Either way you are trespassing, Mewtwo. Do not test me in my own domain. Leave.”

“I have something I need before I go anywhere.” Magica challenges.

“Yes, I know. The dime. You may not have it.”

“And what right do you have to keep me from it! If I can’t have it, I will kill every person on this ship! Misdreveous-!”

Keldeo stabs the Pokémon with its horn before Magica even finishes the sentence. Misdreveous hurls towards the Kingdra who blasts it back up with hydro pump.

“You didn’t even- “ Magica finally looks scared.

“They’re not mine to order. Not anymore.” Not-Donald opens his mouth and a yellow-orange ball forms.

“That’s-!” Scrooge startles. He’s studied legendary Pokémon over the years looking for adventure, he recognizes the move and he knows who they’re dealing with now. He calls his Pokémon, now freed from the hex, back to him. His hand hovers over Heatran’s ball. 

“Leave. I don’t appreciate threats to my young ones.” Not-Donald says.

“You wouldn’t, not on such a small ship.” Magica smirks, but its shaky.

“You underestimate me.” The ball grows.

“Okay!” Magica concedes. “I’m leaving! I’m leaving!”

The ball doesn’t fade until Magica is well and truly gone. The Beagle Boys have jumped ship and are swimming after her, a group of angry water types chasing them out. 

Not-Donald is on the ship watching them go. 

Scrooge taps his cane in front of him, hands crossed over the top with his back straight. It might have been more impressive had any of them moved away from the bow. 

“Lugia, guardian of the seas, how long have you had Donald?” Scrooge asks, eyes narrowed accusingly.

“Heatran." Lugia acknowledges his presence but doesn't take it's eyes off of the retreating forms of their enemies. "A while. I would have had him sooner, but my sibling is far more rash than I and I wanted to be sure.” 

“He never said anything.”

“Of course, he didn’t.” Lugia looks at him now, as if he’s stupid. “Why would he?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Scrooge glares, feeling attacked for some reason. 

“Whoa, okay, let’s not fight.” Gladstone steps up with a smile, “Especially if this is going to be happening often.”

“It’s not.” Uncle and Nephew reply at the same time.

Scrooge looks startled at being agreed with so readily. 

Lugia shakes his head, “His body can’t take it, Jirachi. Of course, our similarities make it easier to be like this, but I will not be risking my chosen.”

“Wait!” Huey shouts still in Launchpad’s hold, “You still haven't told us what’s going on!”

“You lads are smart, I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out.” Scrooge scolds, turning back to the kids. 

The boat rocks as the water Pokémon return. 

“Heh, so D squared finally managed to evolve his Magikarp.” Gladstone grins at Aqua.

“Yes, he’s been like this since I took in the boys.”

“Wait, what?”

“The Magikarp you met at the casino is Agua, this is Aqua. It’s not my fault you can’t tell the difference between the two.” Lugia scowls, brows furrowing in anger.

“…Donald?” Scrooge calls.

“What?” Donald responds, irritated. 

The glow in his eyes are gone and Donald seems to realize he’s got full control the same time his body does. Gladstone catches his cousin before he can hit the floor. 

…

He wakes in a cuddle pile for the umpteenth time, and he can recognize the soft, quiet sounds of aqua ring around him. This time, however, he’s joined by four tiny bodies. The boys are on his chest, Webby and Louie under the same arm while Huey and Dewey are curled under the other. He’s in the living quarters of the ship with his Pokémon, minus Aqua, Allision, and his newer Pokémon that he left to watch the houseboat. A spot of green catches his eye and he sees Gladstone dozing against his Sawsbuck. Scrooge is nowhere to be found but he can hear someone moving around outside. He looks around at what he has while Lugia slumbers in the back of his mind. His boys and Webby are here, his family is here, his Pokémon are here, everyone is safe. It’s enough.

He closes his eyes and goes back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edit: Fixed some gammer issues I noticed and some continuity mix ups.


	2. Scrooge McDuck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scrooge's side of the story.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to everyone who commented and left kudos on my first chapter! I was so encouraged that I sat down and wrote this in almost one sitting. Special thanks to Souls_Skein for chatting with me and inspiring more ideas for this au. You can thank them for the next couple of chapters. 
> 
> This au is loosely based off of surfacage's pokemongo series on Tumblr.

Scrooge McDuck is a self-made duck. All his money, down to the smallest cent, was earned through his hard work and no one else’s. Sure, his sisters helped run the money bin while he was out looking for his next big discovery, but he was the one that made the big bucks. He was the one who crossed the world to bring home treasures from lost civilizations and invested in the right companies. He was the one who worked day and night shining shoes for his number one dime. The money was his and his alone because he worked for it. 

He found his first Pokémon when his heart was softer. Or, rather, it found him. The meowth followed him home one day after he had given it some scratches. He tried to get it to leave, his family couldn’t afford to feed and take care of the thing, but it was stubborn, and it stayed by his side while he polished shoes. 

“Well if you’re going to stick around, I may as well give you a name.” He frowns at it on the way home. As long as it could take care of itself, what could it hurt? 

He names it Silver after his number one dime. 

He buys his first pokéball after months and months of hard work. He saves a little of his pay every day, the rest going to feed his family, up until he can finally purchase one. When Silver activates the ball on its own, Scrooge is ready to explode with pride. He runs home just like he did when he earned his dime. His parents are proud of him for saving up and for getting his first Pokémon. His sisters look at the ball with awe and admiration. He feels like a hero.

He never wants the feeling to go away.

…

He leaves as soon as he’s able. He promises to write at least once a month and they don’t ask him to, but he swears he’ll send at least half his pay with every letter. 

The United States is new. It’s exotic and he basks in its beauty for a mere moment before he’s off to work for his Uncle. He stays for a couple years before he ventures off to find work elsewhere, Silver at his side. 

He meets a Shieldon wandering the Badlands. Its tiny form is almost lost in the background, but Scrooge notices it immediately when it attempts to fight his boss’ prized Tauros. The bull Pokémon isn’t having it and ignores the rambunctious little thing. He watches it fall over itself, it’s head too big for its body. 

It’s clear to Scrooge the Shieldon is without any parents when it charges after them the whole way back and not a single Bastiodon ever shows. He respects it's determination, but - he sighs - he doesn’t want to waste money on another pokéball. Fortunately, some kind fella solves that problem quick. 

“That ferocious little thing yours?” Ronald asks

Scrooge scowls in response and Ronald laughs and hands him a pokéball. 

“Here, I’ve got too many anyway.” He says, tossing it over.

“What do you do for a living?” Scrooge asks him, bewildered that someone can afford to just up and hand out pokéball’s to anybody that comes by. 

“I’m a politician.”

“You should think about a career change.” 

Ronald laughs again and bids him goodbye. Scrooge names his new Pokémon Amber. 

A year later, his boss lets him go.

…

He goes into the mining business and only finds copper for his troubles. Well, copper and a Sabeleye. He sees the red gem on its chest before he sees the Pokémon. It’s diamond eyes meet his and for a second, he thinks the legends are true, that it’ll steal his soul now that he’s looked it in the eyes. He’s frozen in terror, when the purple Pokémon shoves more copper into his hands. He blinks at it.

“I don’t want these.” He says, his fear quickly changing to disgust. 

The Sabeleye clearly doesn’t want them either and the menace won’t let him leave without the extra copper. 

He bemoans his luck that night over dinner with the owner of the mine, but then he hears that the government is putting up electric copper wire around town. The price of copper soars and he goes looking for more with Howard Rockerduck. They strike gold, or in this case copper, thanks to the Sabeleye. They’re in the middle of digging when the Pokémon pops up out of the dirt in front of them. It’s made a tunnel all the way to a copper vein. 

Scrooge is so happy he scoops the thing up in his arms and kisses it. 

He names it Ruby. 

…

He goes back to Scotland twice. Once when Castle McDuck is almost bought by the Whiskervilles, and then again after he becomes a billionaire. He doesn’t fit in anymore. He’s too strong, too rugged, and far too intense for his hometown. 

When his father passes and joins his mother in the afterlife with the rest of the McDuck family, he and his sisters head for Duckburg. 

…

He leaves his sisters in charge of the Money Bin, unwilling to leave the job to complete strangers. He goes on more and more adventures and at some point, Silver evolves into a Persian and Amber evolves into a Bastiodon. He finds Emerald in the Rocky Mountains, he goes just for the challenge of catching a Tyranitar. 

His Aegislash finds him as he’s exploring ruins in Panama. The Aegislash won’t leave him be even when he goes back to Duckburg. He decides to look the Pokémon up, to see if there’s anything he can do to make it go away. 

His sources tell him Aegislash can detect leadership. That whoever it picks is destined to become King. He promptly catches it.

He names it Goldie after it’s gold lining and the woman he met in the Klondike. 

Goldie sparks a book phase. He gets his hands on every book about Pokémon he can. He knows some things are merely legend. Like Sabeleyes stealing a person’s soul. He dismisses most of it, but then he comes across a report by a Professor in Mexico. 

The woman specializes in analyzing ancient inscriptions seen around the world about Legendary Pokémon. She and others in her field hypothesize that the inscriptions describe the Legendaries choosing vessels, priests and priestesses, that they can view the world from and use to do their bidding or to communicate their desires to their followers. 

He’s curious.

Whether or not the inscriptions are true, it would be interesting to meet a Legendary Pokémon and, it may prove to be profitable. Professors and institutions would pay top dollar for even a picture of one and with this in mind, Scrooge begins to search.

He wanders overgrown ruins for Regigias, traverses the three lakes looking for the three lake guardians, and even visits active volcanoes for Groudon. 

Finally, he hears rumors of Heatran, the lava dome Pokémon. He searches the mountain for days before he finds it. 

The magma stone rests on a pedestal and next to it is a slumbering Heatran. 

Scrooge wants both. 

Before he can do anything, Heatran wakes. Its eyelids peel back to reveal its magma colored eyes. Scrooge freezes. He had hoped to catch it off guard, but that was impossible now.

“So, you wish for power?” A voice booms in his mind. 

Scrooge wants to high tail it out the entrance, afraid for the first time in a very long time, but he doesn’t. 

He wants this, and he’s going to have it.

Heatran inhales, “You are a curious one.” Scrooge braces himself for a fight, but then it exhales with a sigh, closing its eyes again, “Very well. You have a heart of steel and your core is of magma. Your determination is boundless, and your tenacity is admirable. Approach.” 

Scrooge steps up with a confidence he doesn’t feel. 

The tattoo is warm on his back, but it doesn’t hurt. He feels the loud presence in his mind dim and it crawls over his thoughts to nestle down in the back of his mind. 

“The magma stone is yours, but be warned, if it is not in either of our vicinities, we will be driven to destroy that which we hold dear.” Heatran says before the pokéball takes him. 

Scrooge doesn’t breathe until he’s out of the mountain. He stares at the stone and the ball in awe. He’s done it. He whoops at the top of his lungs. His heart is light and filled with pride. He can’t wait to tell his sisters, he can’t wait to tell the world.

…

“Scroogie is that safe?” Hortense asks. He brushes her off, but his sisters are insistent. They go back to the Professors’ work. 

Matilda is the one who finds it. An entire essay on what being a chosen meant for the people it happened to. 

“They went mad.” It says, “They started to believe that they were the chooser. Those chosen by flying-type Legendaries jumped off towers thinking they would fly, those chosen by water type Legendaries drowned thinking they could breathe just fine, those chosen by fire-types burned…” and so on and so forth.

Hortense yells at him for being so rash. Matilda starts looking for people and Pokémon alike that can help him block Heatran out. Scrooge yells at Heatran, who sleeps through it, for not warning him. 

“You wanted this, remember that.” It says before he blocks it with the help of a psychic-type specialist.

He doesn’t tell the world, if people think he’s mad they won’t want to do business with him. A part of him blames his sisters for ruining what should have been an otherwise happy occasion. The rest of him blames Heatran.

He holds himself guiltless. 

…

His heart is hard and cold, and he will stop at nothing to make money. He hires thugs to attack a native tribe just to get their land. He doesn’t care that the Voodoo Sorcerer curses him. He doesn’t care that his family is disgusted with him. 

He becomes the richest duck in the world. At the same time, he also becomes the loneliest.

He retires.

…

Donald is just like his mother.

He’s got the McDuck Temper, he can cook like nobody’s business, and above all nothing matters to him more than family. 

Donald is always trying to keep the two of them out of trouble. For someone who isn’t a chosen, he manages to keep pace with them just fine. Scrooge tries to get his nephew to be hardier, to take more risks by quite literally shoving him into dangerous situations. It’s for his own good, it’ll toughen him up, make him more like Scrooge. 

His nephew shouldn’t be wasting his time on a lowly Magikarp and he voices his opinion, trying to get his nephew to find a different Pokémon, a better Pokémon, but he ends up getting scolded by both twins. 

His nephew shouldn’t be giving his Pokémon treats for learning such basic moves, he gives praise out too freely. They’ll never learn, but he doesn’t say anything about it. Donald is stubborn. If anything, all of Scrooge’s attempts to help just make their relationship rockier. It’s even harder when Donald snaps. It hurts when he has to face his temper, with how similar it is to Hortense’s, but Scrooge doesn’t show it.

If he were more like Scrooge, it would hurt less to look at him. It would be easier to talk to and relate to him, but Donald is just like his mother and that’s the problem. 

… 

Della is just like Scrooge. 

He finds it easy to get along with her. He loves them both, they’re Hortense’s children after all, but talking to Della is effortless and she adds an extra spice to their adventures. 

He helps her block her mind from Ho-Oh, she keeps up with his intellect, and they’re both always raring to go on another adventure. Della becomes the country’s strongest air-type trainer and Donald is well on his way. She shows him the magazine with a radiant smile and he wonders if this is what it feels like to have children, the pride he feels settling softly on his face. 

If he could change one thing, it would be how she treats Gladstone. She adores him, and Gladstone has never done anything to earn it. At least, in this regard, he and Donald can agree on something.

Donald leaves to join the navy, Della leaves to join the air force. Donald serves longer than Della, the young woman confesses to him that it’s not as exciting as their adventures. So, he whisks her away to places of legend. There’s a new adventure nearly every day and it takes him longer than he’d ever want to admit to realize that something is wrong. 

Donald comes home. Scrooge and Della don’t greet him when his plane lands, they’re in Brazil. 

Della wants to go, go, go and Scrooge finds he can’t keep up. 

He has no idea when she possibly had time to get pregnant, but she does. She calls Donald for one more adventure before she’s confined to the mansion. 

The Donald that comes back to the mansion is not the same one that left. Scrooge is blown away by the skill his Pokémon show in the pirate fight, but he stays silent, afraid he’ll say something wrong again. 

Della lays her egg and recovers faster than should be possible. That’s when it hits him. Ho-Oh. Before he can do anything, she’s gone with just a note. He wallows in self-pity and guilt for losing another family member, he’s the only one to blame for not recognizing the signs sooner. 

He avoids her children and Donald, afraid he’ll lose them too. He tries to make his heart hard again. 

It doesn’t work. 

…

Donald comes back, and it scares Scrooge. There are three ducklings in his car and he wants nothing to do with them. He tells him to go away, he calls him a deadbeat. They argue. 

Somehow, he ends up watching the kids. 

They’re just like Della. Dewey got her love for adventure, Huey her love of books, and Louie her silver tongue. 

They’re just like Donald. They call him out when he loses himself in the adventure, they protect one another, and more than anything they love with their whole hearts. Their Pokémon are loyal to them and the bond between them is very similar to what Donald shared with his.

They’re just like him. They love adventure, they love going different places, and their curiosity knows no bounds.

Oh, he’s missed this. 

… 

He hasn’t missed her. 

Magica de Spell was a menace before and she’s a menace now. The witch has teamed up with the Beagle Boys this time and is having one of them hold Donald’s unconscious, tied body over the edge of the ship. Scrooge doesn’t know what happened but the red trickling down the side of Donald’s face gives him a pretty good idea. 

“Let of our Uncle!” Huey roars and Webby grabs him before he gets too far from the group.

“Don’t, they might drop him!” She reasons. Webby has always been a smart lass.

Louie is clutching at Gladstone’s shirt demanding he do something. “You have to! Something, anything! Please!”

Dewey is worryingly silent next to Launchpad. 

Scrooge stands between his group and Magica’s. He’s trying to think his way out of this. Magica has their Pokémon and she has Donald. She also has the Beagle Boys, but they aren’t too smart. He might be able to-

Scrooge’s thoughts are interrupted by Dewey’s scream, “Uncle Donald!”

He whips his head around just in time to see Donald kick his captor and fall. 

“Donald!” He and Gladstone yell.

No, no, no he can’t lose another one. Not Donald, not the last of Hortense’s children. He can’t fail her a second time. He can’t fail them a second time. Why would Donald-? What could he possibly have been thinking, the fool! 

“There-There's still time, right? He’s fine, right?” Louie begs his Uncle Gladstone. 

Huey screams and thrashes against Webby twice as hard. “Let me go! Let me go! We can’t lose him!” 

Dewey stares blankly ahead, pale and frozen. Scrooge has to do something, quick. His nephew’s life isn’t worth his number one dime.

“Alright Magica you- “He’s interrupted by a violent shake of the boat. Scrooge has to grab the railing and he manages to snatch up Webby and Huey before they topple over. Launchpad has a hand on Dewey and Gladstone is holding a sobbing Louie.

The boat rocks again as two large Pokémon flip onto the deck, between Scrooge and his enemies. He knows those Pokémon, but he hasn’t seen them in years. Donald was with his Primeape, a Togetic and an Azumarill last he checked. A loud roar steals his attention and a war cry alerts him to the presence of one more familiar figure and a new one. That evolution was a long time coming. He glances down, and he sees the Kingdra before the Beagle Boys do. 

It’s Donald’s old team, but where is Donald?

“Can’t you recognize a coup when you see one?” 

“Uncle Donald!” Dewey yells happily, but it’s not. That thing isn’t his nephew. Its silver eyes are too old, too intense. 

He can’t figure out which Pokémon it is until Donald charges aeroblast. There’s only one Pokémon in existence that knows that move.

Magica retreats. 

“Lugia, Guardian of the Seas, how long have you had Donald?” He says accusingly, he will not lose another family member to a Legendary, not if he has any say in it. He knows as the world’s richest duck and as an Uncle, he will definitely be having a say in it. 

“A while.” Scrooge’s heart stops beating. Lugia says something about having him sooner and rage burns at the front of his mind. 

“He never said anything.” He shoots through gritted teeth.

“Of course, he didn’t.” Lugia looks at him now, as if he’s stupid. “Why would he?”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Scrooge asks, he’s never felt such loathing before. 

“Whoa, okay, let’s not fight.” Gladstone steps in smirking, “Especially if this is going to be happening often.”

“It’s not.” He snarls the same time Lugia does, though the Pokémon does it far more calmly than Scrooge does.

Scrooge is taken aback by the ready agreement. 

Lugia shakes his nephew’s head, “His body can’t take it. Of course, our similarities make it easier to be like this, but I will not be risking my chosen.”

“Wait!” Huey shouts still in Launchpad’s hold, “You still haven't told us what’s going on!”

“You lads are smart, I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out.” Scrooge scolds, angling his body back towards the kids, but not taking his eyes off Lugia.

The boat rocks a bit as the group of water Pokémon return.

“Heh, so D squared finally managed to evolve his Magikarp.” Gladstone smirks at the Gyrados.

“Yes, he’s been like this since I took in the boys.”

“Uh, what?” Gladstone says and both Uncle and nephew turn to Lugia.

“The Magikarp you met at the casino is Agua, this is Aqua. It’s not my fault you can’t tell the difference between the two.” Donald scowls, brows furrowing in anger. The silver eyes are gone.

“…Donald?” Scrooge calls gently.

“What?” Donald snaps.

Donald seems to realize he’s got full control the same time his body does. Gladstone catches his cousin before he can hit the floor.

“What’s wrong with him?” Louie asks as Scrooge rushes over.

“I-I don’t know.” He confesses. If he’s perfectly honest with himself, he knows very little about the bond between chooser and chosen. He’s also shaken up from the whole event.

Della left. 

Donald came back. 

Della was never possessed like this and she left. 

Donald was, and he came back. 

What did it mean?

Poliwrath-Nipper-picks up his trainer and takes him below deck. There is little the family can do but follow. The Pokémon take up positions around Donald without hesitation, as if they’ve done it before, and the soft glow of aqua ring dances around the cabin. Dewey climbs into the pile first with Huey and Louie following closely. Webby hesitates but the boys make grabby hands at her and she lets them pull her in as well. 

Gladstone makes himself comfortable nearby with his Sawsbuck, “It is almost midnight.” He says, but the Keldeo-Killick-isn’t having it and whines at the two until Sawsbuck moves closer. Gladstone is forced to move as well if he wants to keep his pillow.

Scrooge is left standing around awkwardly. “I’m going to check on our course.” He tries, pathetically before retreating. Launchpad is at the controls, he must have wandered off while the family went below deck. In the water, Aqua and Hawser chase after the duck’s Emolga, Sparky.

“You alright Mr. McDee?” Launchpad asks, turning from the wheel, and Scrooge hates that the duck can tell something is upsetting him.

“Yes, yes I’m fine. How far until we reach Duckburg?” He brushes off

“We’ll be there in about five more hours.”

“Good, good.” Scrooge hums absentmindedly, he’s going to need to have Mrs. Quackfaster gather every single piece of information she can on Chosen if he wants to get to the bottom of this. 

…

Louie finds him first. They’ve been back at the mansion for four hours and it’s mid-afternoon. 

“What’s wrong with Uncle Donald?” He demands. 

Scrooge is in his archives looking over the reports again, scanning every line for answers. He hadn’t expected to be caught, everyone was dozing on his largest couch the last time he had checked.

“Why did you call him Lugia?” Louie fires when Scrooge doesn’t immediately respond. “Why did he call you Heatran?” 

Scrooge sighs and tries to figure out where to start. He inhales-

“And why did he call Uncle Gladstone Jirachi?” 

-and stops in his tracks. He closes his mouth and looks at Louie with wide eyes. Donald had called Gladstone Jirachi, hadn’t he? Did that mean-? No that was ridiculous, he would know if-

But he hadn’t known about Donald.

Scrooge’s eyes narrow and he stands abruptly, marching out. Louie follows.

“Hey, I asked you-!”

“Quiet.” Scrooge orders, turning to look at the green clad duckling briefly. 

He’s so determined to get back to the mansion he doesn’t hear Louie message the other ducklings through a hand-held radio.

Launchpad drives them both back to the mansion, neither Uncle or Nephew react to the dangerous drive both too absorbed in their own thoughts. Upon their arrival, Scrooge charges through every door to where he last saw his Nephews. 

They’re still sleeping on the couch, though the other three ducklings are suspiciously absent. He whacks Gladstone on the head with his cane, “Wake up!” 

He wakes the Pokémon with his declaration and he would have hit Donald had he not been immediately stopped by his Pokémon. Persian hisses at them.

“I’m going to speak with my Nephews and you will not get in my way.” Scrooge declares, yanking his cane out of Allision’s grip. His hand moves to let his own Pokémon out when Huey, Dewey, and Webby show up with Donald’s Togetic following them. The three children run over to join Louie, who is watching from a safe distance. Tramper goes to hover over them, in case something happens. Scrooge doesn’t notice any of them. 

The tension in the room rises between the Scott, his Pokémon, and Donald’s Pokémon.

Gladstone is cradling his head in his hand, “Jeez Uncle Scrooge, that smarts!” No one pays him much attention, too focused on what is sure to be a very intense battle.


	3. The Fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things are explained and some things aren't. Nobody is happy with this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter took so long, I spent a lot of time on research for parts I ended up cutting. It also took multiple revisions for me to be happy with the final product. I've discovered that keeping people in character is very hard for me when I'm dealing with multiple characters interacting with one another. 
> 
> I hope you guys like it!

Scrooge reaches for his pokéballs and releases Ruby, Amber, and Goldie.

“He’s not really going to have a pokemon battle in the middle of his living room is he?” Louie quietly asks the other ducklings.

Tramper worriedly darts around them, panicking at how intense the atmosphere has gotten.

“Normally I’d say no, but he looks mad.” Webby whispers back. Her Mimikyu, Hunter, hides behind her leg. 

It’s not the only pokemon taking shelter behind it’s trainer. 

Sawsbuck has taken up a defensive stance behind Gladstone. Louie’s Snivy is watching from the safety of his hood, it’s head peeking over his shoulder to lazily watch the unfolding events before them. Huey’s Tepig, Ember, has planted itself next to him, head cocked to one side, curious to know what’s going on. Dewey’s Oshawott, Killer, looks ready to jump in and join the fight.

“I’m only going to say this once.” Scrooge growls at the pokemon in front of him. “Move.”

In response, Donald’s pokemon all take up fighting stances.

It’s a standoff between Donald’s Poliwrath, Blastoise, Keldeo, and Primeape and Scrooge’s Persian, Bastiodon, Sableye, and Aegislash.

Mizzen frets from the top of the couch, the Azumarill knows it’s trainer doesn’t like indoor battles. Battles cause a lot of damage and fixing said damage can be costly. (The kids nearly destroyed the houseboat’s living room once. On the very rare occasion they were all upset with each other, Louie decided a pokemon battle would settle the matter. Donald was not happy when he got home.) 

Over by the children, Tramper uses Protect, the shield stretching to cover the kids and their pokemon.

Donald is still asleep on the couch. Short of one of the kids crying for him, the single dad could sleep through a hurricane. 

“Three bucks on Uncle Scrooge.” Louie bets

“I’ll take that.” Dewey agrees.

“I don’t know guys, Scrooge has types that are weak against Water and Fighting types. He’s at a pretty severe disadvantage.” Huey notes.

“He won’t win.” Webby states and when the boys look at her, she has stars in her eyes, “Scrooge is strong, yeah, but the World Champ has been trying to get Donald to be a part of the Elite Four for years.” 

She nods at the pokemon team, “And those are the pokemon that got him the attention.”

“Mmm, yeah, sorry Webby, we don’t buy it.” Louie says, his brothers nodding in agreement.

“As much as I hate to admit it, she’s right.” Gladstone comes over, still holding his throbbing head and trying to get behind Tramper’s Protect. “Don was the best water-fighting type trainer out there. 

Uncle Scrooge is a strong opponent to go up against, but Don will give him a run for his money.” 

“But doesn’t Uncle Donald need to give them orders? Every book I’ve read on Pokemon battles say the Trainer gives the pokemon directions.” Huey pulls his guide book out of his hat and reads, “The pokemon’s strength and the trainer’s leadership is what will ultimately decide the outcome of every battle.”

“But Uncle Donald didn’t tell them to do anything back on the boat.” Dewey objects.

“That’s because he released his pokemon after he took you three in. They don’t have to listen to him anymore. Besides, Donald’s asleep and this one used Protect just fine.” Gladstone points at Tramper.

“Except, if Uncle Donald can’t order them then Scrooge would logically be the one to win.” Huey ponders, “But the type disadvantage…”

“I changed my mind, I’m betting on Uncle Donald’s pokemon.” Louie decides

“Why?” Dewey looks at his brother

“Did you see what they did to Magica’s pokemon?”

“That’s because they caught her off guard.”

“Still, it only took like three seconds.”

The kids are still debating when Scrooge makes his first move and gives his pokemon orders.

Amber charges at the Blastoise, but there’s not a lot of room for it to gain any speed and its attack is stopped when Killick leaps in front of Captain with Reflect. Nipper takes the hit, Power Gem, from Ruby and retaliates with Scald, a jet of boiling water shooting towards the tiny purple pokemon. Ruby stands its ground from the force but is left with a severe burn. Allision uses Cross Chop on Amber while Captain uses skull bash on Aegislash. 

“Silver-" Scrooge starts but he’s forgotten something very important. 

Donald’s pokemon no longer need to wait for orders nor are they obliged to follow the traditional battle rules. As such, Captain doesn’t wait for its next turn and uses hydro pump sending Ruby flying past its trainer. Allision follows suit and uses cross chop again on Amber, the attack strikes the Bastiodon in the neck and the large pokemon staggers. Killick is using aqua ring on Nipper. 

The floor is soaked.

“Granny isn’t going to be happy when she gets back from the store.” Webby whispers to the others.

Scrooge gears up for his next move when the fight is interrupted with an abrupt cry from Mizzen. In its desire to avoid any more fighting and the ire of it’s trainer, it jumps off the top of the couch and onto Donald’s chest. 

It would have been cute had it not weighed over sixty (60) pounds. 

“Arcues above, Nipper, I told you you’re too big to-“ Donald wheezes before realizing it’s not Nipper, but Mizzen on his chest. 

“Mizzen? What’s wrong?” 

It hops off with a cry and runs over to Scrooge. 

Donald takes in the scene. Amber is barely standing, and Ruby is picking itself up off the floor. Scrooge has his arms crossed and is giving Donald a stern look. His pokemon haven’t moved since he woke and are still battle ready. He sees the kids in the corner with Gladstone and Tramper, the faint glow of Protect in front of them. 

“What’s the big idea?!” Donald yells, “Picking a fight with my pokemon while the kids are in the room!”

“They would’ve been fine.” Scrooge scowls and waves him off.

Tramper makes a happy noise, feeling as though it’s been praised. 

“Where are Aqua, Agua, and Hawser?” Donald calms, looking around for the rest of his pokemon.

“In the pool.” Webby answers.

Donald stands, letting the blanket he was sleeping under fall on the floor, and gives her an incredulous look, “With the houseboat?”

“No, they’re in the other pool.” Louie chimes.

“West wing or East wing?” Donald rubs his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

“…There are two indoor pools?” Huey asks 

“West.” Webby clarifies

“Enough! You have some explaining to do!” Scrooge jabs his cane at him and then swings it towards Gladstone, “The both of ye!”

“Me?” Gladstone asks, trying to look innocent. 

Scrooge gives him a hard look. “Yes, you! You’ve been chosen for who knows how long and I only just find out last night?” Scrooge rages and jabs Gladstone in the stomach with his cane, “And not even from your own mouth!”

Gladstone flinches and Donald feels kind of bad for outing his cousin, but not enough to apologize.

“I-well, you see-" Gladstone sputters, trying to get away from the offending cane. 

“And you-” Scrooge whirls on Donald, “are just as guilty! Do you have any idea what will happen to the two of you if you don’t block those beasts from your mind?!” 

“Do you?!” Donald snaps

“Yes!”

“Really!” Donald yells back, doubt in his voice.

“Yes!”

“How!? You blocked Heatran!”

“It’s in the reports!”

“What reports?!”

“The ones in my study!”

“Then show them to us!”

“I will!”

“Good!”

“Good!” 

Nephew and Uncle give each other stern looks.

“Fix my pokemon first!” Scrooge demands with a finality, before he storms out to call Launchpad. 

Donald’s pokemon turn their noses up at the order, but he manages to convince them to heal his Uncle’s pokemon with a promise of homemade poké puffs. He leaves them at the mansion saying, “You guys are too big to come with us. You can go join Aqua and the others in the pool or you can go back to the ocean.”

A couple minutes later he, Gladstone, and Scrooge are climbing into the car with four ducklings trying to jump in after them.

“Eh, maybe you kids should stay here.” Scrooge says, blocking the way with his cane.

The ducklings protest. 

“Aw, but Uncle Scrooge…” Louie moans.

“You never tell us anything!” Dewey kicks the ground.

“We have the right to know what’s happening!” Huey argues.

“Yeah! Give us knowledge or give us death!” Webby jumps in.

They give her a weird look. “Too much?” She asks.

“Just a bit.” Huey replies.

It’s Donald who makes the decision, “Let them in, they need to hear this.”

His cousin and Uncle stare at him, surprised. He gives them a resigned look, “This concerns them too. As much as I wish it didn’t.”

The kids happily hop in after that. 

“So…” Dewey starts, excitedly.

Uncle Scrooge is pouting in his seat, while Uncle Donald stares at the floor with an odd look on his face. That leaves Uncle Gladstone.

“Wait until we get there kid this stuff isn’t exactly common knowledge and I don’t trust Don’s luck to help us out here.” He stops them.

The kids shrug and resign themselves to waiting just a bit longer for their answers.

…

“Here.” Scrooge slaps his hand down on the reports. The kids run around the conference room admiring the leather seats and multiple televisions. 

Gladstone doesn’t even pick the papers up. He takes a seat across from his Uncle and starts filing his nails. Donald gets through the abstract of the first paper and slams it down.

“This is ridiculous! These are all guesses about an indecipherable ancient text from fifteen hundred years ago! These don’t mean anything!”

Scrooge is visibly shocked, but then he comes back with a vengeance.

“No? You’re willing to bet your life on them being wrong?” He narrows his eyes at Donald.

“I’m more willing to bet my life on a basic Google search than these ridiculous attempts to make sense of an old chunk of rock! Not only are they outdated, there’s no solid evidence!”

“And there was evidence of Atlantis? Of the Medusa Gauntlet?”

“Yes! The water patterns, the statues, there was more than one piece of evidence for all of your artifacts!”

“Then you tell me, Donald Duck, what do you know about the bond?! Huh? Nothing!”

“I know more than you ever will! I talk to my Chooser! You run from yours!”

“Whoa, really? You don’t talk to Heatran?” The two turn to glare at Gladstone.

“Hey, I only just found out about you two. You’re not the only one who’s been left in the dark.” He grumbles.

“Maybe…” Donald deflates, “Maybe we should start from the beginning. Gladstone, how did you become Jirachi’s Chosen?”

“Hang on a minute Uncle Donald.” Huey interrupts, “What does being Chosen even mean?”

“In ancient times,” Uncle Scrooge elaborates, “the Legendary pokemon were worshiped as gods. Some still have sects around the world, but there were a lot more back then. It’s written that the Legendaries would pick one person to be their head priest or priestess and they would bond with their chosen to communicate their desires to their worshippers, essentially sharing minds with them. But most of the time the chosen went mad from it and died.”

“That’s not true.” Gladstone frowns, “Jirachi said that Arceus creates people for the Legendaries to bond with in order to give them companionship and keep them sane.”

Donald nods, “Lugia said the same thing. Arceus wanted it’s Guardian Creatures to be able to empathize with the life it created, so the Guardians could adequately do their jobs. Apparently before humans were created, the Legendary pokemon would get lonely or bored. Most of them seclude themselves, so they don’t hurt anyone with their powers, but if they don’t interact with anyone or anything for a long time they’ll go mad.”

“So, basically, Arceus created social creatures that don’t socialize, and they have to make a bond with a mortal so they can?” Webby tries to summarize. 

Gladstone and Donald look at each other, “That sounds right.”

“And you’re just going to trust them? Take their word for it?” Scrooge frowns. His nephews both shrug. 

“Their stories do match up.” Louie points out.

“Sure, if they’re all in on it.” Scrooge spits.

“So then how did you get a bond Uncle Gladstone?” Dewey asks

“My family has always been Jirachi’s favorite.” The green-clad Gander says, smugly, “It was only a matter of time before someone in the tree was chosen and as soon as I was born it knew I was the one it wanted to Choose.”

Donald mutters something under his breath and not even the triplets can make out what he says. 

“What about you Uncle Scrooge?” Huey climbs on the table, ignoring his Uncle Donald’s protest. “Don’t climb on the table, Huey.”

“Me?” Scrooge puffs out his chest and Donald mutters “Oh, here we go.”

“Well laddie, I went out and found a Legendary pokemon. I wasn’t going to wait around for one to come to me. I looked for months before I heard word about Heatran. I was in the mountains searching for the beastie for days before I finally found it. It was sleeping next to the magma stone and I came out with both. Why when it first woke up-”

“Somebody stop him, he’ll go on for hours.” Donald moans, sinking in his chair

“Have you heard this before, Don?” Gladstone asks

“Ugh, he would never stop telling us. It felt like every time we had a long trip to the next adventure he’d start back up again.”

“Hang on, he told you about his bond?”

“Don’t feel bad, he only told me because of-“ Donald stops. “Wait, Gladstone, Della never told you?”

His cousin stiffens, “Told me what?”

“She didn’t.” Donald looks at him, pity in his heart. Della was Gladstone’s closest friend, she told him everything she told Donald. At least, he thought she did. 

“Gladstone, why do you think Della and I were sent to live with Uncle Scrooge over the summers?” He asks hesitantly

“Because he told Grandma he’d help raise you? Why?” Gladstone can clearly tell he’s missed something, he looks a little scared.

“She kept going on and on about it, how did you not-” 

The realization hits him like a freight train. 

The car crash.

“Oh.”

“Donald what happened? What didn’t she tell me?” Gladstone grips his cousin’s shoulders, shaking him a little. They’re both a mess when Della comes up in conversations.

“Della was Ho-Oh’s Chosen.” Scrooge states, his attention brought to the cousins in the middle of his story.

Gladstone freezes, and he looks lost and heartbroken. Donald immediately hates the expression on his cousin’s face, he resents the duck for never having to work but he would never wish such anguish upon him. 

He starts babbling excuses for his twin, “It was all she talked about for weeks. She would have told you, but then the car crash-she blamed herself for years-” He stops and comes to the same conclusion his cousin does.

“She could have said something later.” Gladstone slumps in his chair.

“Lad, we didn’t know you were chosen too. We wanted as few people to know as possible.”

“So?! I was her best friend! We told each other everything!”

“Gladstone…” Scrooge tries to soothe

The kids are watching with wide eyes.

“You didn’t tell her about your bond either.” Donald points out, numb.

“I…” Gladstone can’t think of anything to say against that and he slumps in his chair.

The room is wrapped in silence as everyone processes the new information or, in the adults’ case, mourns.

“Is that why mom left?” Dewey breaks it, “Was it because of Ho-Oh?” 

Scrooge opens his mouth, but it’s Donald who answers, “No. Your mother had a very strong mental barrier against Ho-Oh thanks to Uncle Scrooge. I don’t know-“

Scrooge slams his cane down on the table, “Of course it was Ho-Oh!”

“Huh?” Donald asks, stunned

“When she came back from the Air Force she kept wanting to go on adventures! Day in and day out! I could hardly keep up with her! And when she laid her egg? She was up and moving in days! Her recovery should have taken weeks! How could it have been anything else?!”

“Because she’s Della!” Donald stands abruptly, his chair falling over from the force, rage and pain in his eyes, “She was always running from one thing to the next, she didn’t ever know how to slow down! She always wanted to go out and do things, and she never wanted to stop and look at what was right in front of her! You were the one that introduced her to adventuring!” He points at Scrooge, “And it satisfied her for a time, but it’s never enough with Della!”

“But she-"

“You had the world’s best psychic type specialist put a block on her, Scrooge, Ho-Oh wouldn’t have been able to break it!”

“But-"

“Or maybe it did! Maybe it spent over a decade wearing the barrier down and breaking the block! Or maybe…” He glares at his reflection in the table, voice going deadly soft, “maybe you’re just upset because this time it’s you she’s left behind.”

Scrooge’s mouth hangs in shock. 

Gladstone is silent next to Donald. 

The kids are stunned.

“I would expect nothing less from Ho-Oh’s chosen. Always moving, never staying in one place for long. Not even for those it loves.” Donald feels…empty.

“You don’t really believe that, do you?” Scrooge pulls himself together to ask his nephew quietly. 

“I don’t know what to think about Della anymore. I thought I knew her better than I knew myself and maybe, at some point, I did.” Donald deflates.

“What changed, Donald? I thought you and Della were close. You were always looking after her when we went on adventures.” 

Donald wants to laugh; all these years and his Uncle still had no idea.

“We’re not talking about this. Not now, not ever, and especially not in front of the kids.”

“You were the one who insisted they be here.” Scrooge counters, pouncing on the chance to change topics. “You had to have known Della would have been brought up at some point.”

“They’re not here for us, Uncle Scrooge.”

“We’re not?” Dewey asks

“No, I didn’t have you come along so you could learn more about our past, I brought you along because you need to know about the bond.”

The rest of the group gives him confused looks

“You can’t sense it?” He asks, looking at Scrooge and Gladstone.

‘Jirachi is always asleep and Heatran is not averse in psychic type abilities. You are the only one here who can sense Chosen.’ Lugia decides to make itself heard. Donald turns his face back down towards the table. He can’t look at his family, he’s too scared. 

Across the table Scrooge is slowly putting the pieces together, knuckles going white.

“You think they’ll be chosen?” Gladstone asks, and Donald shakes his head, “They already are.”

…

They’re yelling.

Scrooge is a second away from ripping his nephew’s throat out, “How could you let this happen?!”

The boys are upset and screaming, “When were you going to tell us?! You always keep things from us!”

Gladstone isn’t much different, “Were any of you ever going to tell me anything?!”

Webby is the only silent presence in the room, besides Donald. In the face of all the noise, her silence goes unnoticed. Donald can only hear the cacophony of disappointment that surrounds him. This was always his worst nightmare. 

Scrooge’s disappointment was always judgmental silence or loud yelling. But he’s used to his Uncle’s scathing disappointment. If it had just been him and Scrooge he might have been able to handle it. 

But the boys are yelling too. 

He knew they wanted to know more about their mother and he knew he could be a helicopter parent, but they always bore it like champs, with just some fuss, a little disappointment, and rather elaborate pranks. He held on to the fact that the disappointment would fade when they were old enough for him to tell them everything they wanted to know. 

This, however, was too much. The very verbal confirmation of his failures by not only Scrooge, but his boys as well, was more than he could handle in one sitting. 

His mind goes blank all at once and the world fades. The shouts around him blend together until its one continuous noise. Nothing registers, he can’t hear their words anymore, just their overwhelming hatred of him.

Then comes the rage. He’s not sure if it’s his.

“Enough!” He pounds his right fist on the table. Something cracks.

He gives Scrooge a downright nasty look, “You avoided us for ten. years. You never answered my calls and you never, ever came to visit! You weren’t there, you don’t get a say!”

“Uncle-“

“Boys, sit down.” He snaps his head over to the boys, interrupting Louie with an unrelenting look on his face.

“Gladstone.” He turns on his cousin, “You didn’t tell us, we didn’t tell you. Accept that or get out.” 

His cousin sulks in his chair. Scrooge is seething in his.

Donald looks over the boys. They’re mad and upset. Dewey isn’t looking at him, Louie is. Huey is anxiously playing with his hat.

“You were chosen when you were two. The three Legendary Beasts showed up outside the houseboat and the second they saw you they wanted to bond. I didn’t let them because of your age and I was going to tell you when you turned thirteen. I was going to tell you a lot of things when you were thirteen, including whatever you wanted to know about your mother.” He says, his tone a lot more restrained when he speaks to the boys than it was when he spoke to the other adults.

His hand starts to hurt.

His nephews are all looking at him now. Webby is gone from her chair. 

“Webby.”

He hears a noise of panic from the direction of the ventilation shaft in the back of the room.

“You’ve been picked by Celebi, but it hasn’t bonded with you yet. Why?”

Webby stands up from the entrance to the vents, plays with her skirt, and doesn’t look at them, “She said she’d come back when the time was right.”

“The bond between a Chosen and a Chooser isn’t something to be taken lightly. It’s not like your movies or your videogames.” He tells the kids, “You are sharing your thoughts and feelings with a god, however minor they may be. It can be…”

“Overwhelming?” Gladstone suggests. Donald frowns at him, he was trying to avoid using a word that might scare the kids. 

“What? Jirachi was awake for most of my childhood. I remember what it was like.” His cousin shrugs

Donald sighs and runs his left hand through the feathers on the top of his head. “Celebi is probably waiting for the same reason I had the beasts wait. Your minds aren’t fully developed yet.”

“But Uncle Gladstone was a baby when he was chosen!” Louie argues

“What about mom? When was she Chosen?” Dewey asks

“How did you know Celebi picked me?” Webby interrogates

Huey is writing everything down in his guide book.

“Jirachi is only awake for seven years when it isn’t sleeping and Ho-Oh is rash, it picked your mother when she was five. They both should have waited but they didn’t.” Donald answers, “Webby I’ve known about you for a while. Being Chosen means we have some minor abilities. Gladstone, as I’m sure you can tell, has his every wish granted and since Lugia is a Psychic type, I can tell who’s been Chosen or who has been marked for Choosing, as is the case with you four.”

“It also means I know more about the effects of a bond than any other person here.” Donald says, deliberately to Scrooge who scowls.

“What makes a person worthy of being Chosen?” Huey asks

“That’s up to the Chooser to decide.” Donald shrugs.

“Like I said: favorite.” Gladstone grins.

“Heatran admired my determination.” Scrooge smirks. “And Della said Ho-Oh picks those with hearts of Gold.”

“What about you Uncle Donald? You haven’t told us anything about when and why you were chosen.”

Donald’s face goes white. “That’s…not important.”

“Aw come on Donny, you know how everyone else was picked. It’s your turn, don’t be shy.” Gladstone pokes him. 

“No, I don’t want to talk about it.” Gladstone gives him a weird look when Donald tries to cross his arms and has to stop when his hand offers a painful protest. 

Scrooge makes a degrading noise from his seat, thinking his nephew stumbled on the Legendary by an embarrassing accident. 

Donald hears the very familiar noise of disdain from his Uncle and tenses. 

He can’t do this. He doesn’t get to do this to Donald. Scrooge can belittle any one of his actions and decisions, he can tolerate that. He has for years. But for Scrooge to go after the events that lead to Donald meeting Lugia, it feels like his Uncle is demeaning his friends and crewmates. He used to be afraid of what his Uncle would say about the whole thing, now he’s just infuriated and very, very sad.

“Uncle Donald?” Louie asks, hesitantly. 

Their Uncle looks defeated and haunted at the same time, they’ve never seen him like this before. His eyes have glazed over and he’s staring at a spot on the wall. His mind is no longer with them and is, instead, reliving the most horrific day of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll give you three guess on who the World Champion is, the first two don't count.
> 
> Next chapter: The Navy


	4. The Navy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a reason Donald has PTSD and makes his nephews wear life vests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're all so nice, I'm going to cry. Thanks to everyone who commented! If I'm being honest, I had this chapter planned out since I started writing Scrooge's side of the story, I was just so excited to write it...

He’s startled awake by the piercing shriek of a red alert. The flashing light across the cabin illuminates the small room in a bright red and he sincerely hopes its distracting enough that Uno didn’t see him fall off the top bunk. The duck’s face appears above him, the duck leaning over the side of his own bed to look down at Donald and the grin on his beak tells Donald all he needs to know. 

Uno’s Porygon2 buzzes curiously by its trainer’s side and a blob of blue rockets down from Donald’s bed. Nipper lands on Donald with a joyous cry. 

There’s no time for his friend to laugh at him or for Donald to scold the Poliwhirl on his chest (despite the difficulties Donald is facing in trying to breathe), before Lyla bursts through the door.

“Get up and report to your stations, slow pokes! We’re under attack!” She shouts, before vanishing down the corridor. 

Donald and the rest of his bunk mates hurriedly throw on their shoes and caps, moving around each other with a practiced ease. He snatches his belt up from where it’s hanging off the side of his bed and checks to see if he has all his pokemon. 

Then he’s running out the door with everyone else. 

He heads towards the bridge while Uno jogs by his side to the nearest ladder, his own station in the hull of the ship. Uno stops him for a moment before they part ways, his hand wrapping around 

Donald’s wrist forcing him to turn around and look at the Italian. 

“Hey, be safe.” Uno says, face serious.

“You too.” Donald responds. 

There’s a split second where they take comfort in the other’s presence. It doesn’t last long, it can’t. People bustle around them trying to get to their stations or wherever they’re needed at the moment.

Uno lets him go. 

Donald takes off down the hall, Nipper at his heel. He’s outside for a moment, flying up the stairs to get to the bridge when the ship turns suddenly. He has to grab onto the railing to stop himself from falling down the stairs and Nipper grabs onto his leg.

He looks up, trying to find the source of such a sharp turn. The ship he’s on is large and the turn should have been nearly impossible for it to physically make. Past the bow, he sees the water turn and froth, the previously calm sea twisting this way and that, forming a massive whirlpool.

They’re already in its grasp.

He stumbles onto the bridge and if he thought it was frantic below deck, this was nothing short of chaotic. Technicians are shouting over one another, trying to get their messages heard by those who need to hear it. Yeomen are running to and fro with unorganized papers in their arms. Lyla is positioned against the far wall and furiously writing everything down. Admiral Wisecube is barking orders at the helmsmen and navigators.

“What do you mean they can’t get close to it? We need that whirlpool gone!” Wisecube shouts as Donald enters. It’s standard for a ship to have at least three pokemon that know and can counter Whirlpool. 

In a world of pokemon based warfare, it’s a necessity.

“They’re all on standby sir! Team Aqua won’t let any of our pokemon close to it!”

The Admiral scowls and the ship groans. Donald moves over toward the helm. His fellow Helmsman Mary Ann is already frantically trying to keep the boat out of the violent water in front of them. 

“Get a pokemon in there now! That’s a top priority. Use diversion tactics, brute force, whatever it takes!” he hears Wisecube order.

“Donald! I don’t suppose you’d be willing to get in on this?” Mary Ann says when she sees him get in the co-pilot’s chair. He can see from just a glance that all the controls are going haywire as the ship is forced to bow to the whirlpool’s demands, it’s a lot to keep track of for one person. Mary Ann and Donald are both two of the best Helmsmen in the navy, but a whirlpool is hard for even the most experienced sailors. 

He throws himself into the fray, helping her steady the ship as best they can. Nipper climbs the back of his chair and gives little cries that Donald assumes are orders. His poliwhirl likes to play captain and its antics make him grin despite how scared and frantic he is. Mary Ann’s Prinplup, Emperor, snickers and Donald can see a smirk on its trainer’s face.

“Look!” Someone shouts.

Donald glances up as the swirling water in front of them settles back into calm, lapping waves. The officers on deck give shouts of victory. Donald and Mary Ann share a triumphant smile. Behind them their pokemon chest bump. 

They’re suddenly jerked to the side as the ship lists violently.

“What happened?!” Wisecube demands. 

It’s a moment before anyone answers him.

“The hull’s been breached sir!”

Donald feels his blood run cold. Uno. 

“Well fix it!”

“They can’t, there are too many holes! Team Aqua’s pokémon all charged at the same time!”

“Where was artillery!?”

“Busy with the whirlpool sir!”

“Damn! Ensign, sound the alarm, we’re abandoning ship! Technicians, make sure everyone is off and make sure we’ve got someone looking for us! Someone tell Artillery to keep Team Aqua off of us while we Evac. Navigators, figure out a course we can follow until help arrives! Helmsmen, keep this ship up as long as you can until it’s on ice! Move, people!”

It’s not long after the bridge empties that Donald and Mary Ann watch the front of the ship go under. A quarter of the vessel is in the water before three different shots of Ice Beam freeze it in place. 

Donald puts Nipper in his pokéball and follows his friend out.

They get to the life rafts and there’s one left waiting for them at the border between ice and water, the rest dot the ocean not too far from the damaged ship. Only the Admiral is left. Some people are on their pokemon. Lapras, Swamperts, Wailmers, and Seismetoads are sprinkled between the rafts with a number of people latched on to them. Team Aqua’s boats are sailing away. 

“Is everyone off?” Donald asks, scanning the boats for his friends. Layla is on a Swampert, Rupert is in a raft with Stella, but he can’t find Uno.

“You don’t need to worry about that Duck. That’s my job.” The Admiral says getting in to the raft. 

“Where’s Uno?” He asks, dropping the Admiral’s title in his worry and anger. 

“Duck.” His Admiral glares at him for the disrespect. 

“Where’s my friend Admiral?” He grits his teeth, forcing himself to stay calm.

The man sighs and Donald notices how old he looks. 

“When the hull ruptured some people were trapped in-Duck!” The Admiral shouts at Donald’s back.

He scrambles up the aft with a furious desperation and beelines into the interior of the ship, looking for the ladder down and crawling in when he finds it. The boat looks distinctly different when it’s nearly vertical and he has to stop for a moment and remember which way is which, despite all the months he’s spent on the vessel. 

He heads towards Uno’s section and lets Hawser, Nipper, and Aqua out. They’re his smallest pokemon and they’re his best bet at finding his friend. He sends his Seadra and Magikarp one way, in case Uno was sent to help somewhere else. He and Nipper search Uno’s normal work area, Donald holding onto Nipper’s legs while it swims around. 

At least the Poliwhirl knows Flash. 

The ship rumbles and sinks suddenly. The vessel has become too heavy from all the water it’s taken on and the ice can no longer hold it in place. A sinking, painful feeling in his gut grows with each second that passes.

He keeps looking. 

They take different paths every time they dive, and Donald has to resurface more often than he’d like. The water is rising faster now that the ice is gone and he’s starting to feel anxious and desperate. Uno has been his best friend since they met at boot camp. He’s funny, he puts up with Donald, and he’s smart too, smarter than Donald could ever hope to be and he doesn’t really show many emotions, but he’s got the best kind of sass. Uno never looked at him and saw a failure, instead the duck always encouraged him to keep trying. 

(He was - He is - a lot like Mickey and Goofy in that regard, but Donald couldn’t always keep up with their unending optimism and energy. With Uno, he didn’t have to. He was – is - calm and steady, like an anchor.) 

Some time, somewhere, somehow, Uno had become Donald’s biggest advocate and closest confidant. He filled the hole Della had left of her own free will. 

He doesn’t know what he’ll do if he can’t find his friend. 

Aqua cries out for him when he and Nipper resurface again, and Donald can’t follow the Magikarp fast enough. 

A part of him is afraid of what he’ll find.

He sees the enormous hole in the hull before he sees Uno. Light filtering in through the blue and green of the ocean. By its light he can see Uno pinned to the wall next to Hawser. When the hole was formed the metal must have been blasted away and struck his friend. The only reason Uno is still alive is because of the Magic Coat protecting him from the water. Porygon2 is refusing to leave its trainer’s side. The same trainer with a large chunk of the ship slicing through his abdomen. 

His friend should be very injured. The wound is large, and the debris could have easily cleaved him in half if it had hit him any harder, and yet there he is talking underwater with his mouth closed. His voice, which sounds like it does any other day of the week above water, bewilders Donald, and the kicker is: he has wires sticking out of his wound. 

“Go, Porygon I am fine. I do not want you to drown, please leave.” Uno says, shoving at his Pokémon. He looks worried and not at all like he’s in pain. 

“Donald!” Uno says, shocked when he sees his friend approach. “Donald you can not be here, you have to leave, you will drown! Take Porygon with you, please!” He begs

Donald shakes his head.

“What? No? But…Oh! Is it because I am an android? I am sorry my friend, I did not mean to lie, but please, whatever ill will you feel towards me do not - what are you doing?” Uno rambles as Donald and his Pokémon grab the hulking piece trapping his friend. He doesn’t care if his friend is a robot. Uno is his friend, one of a handful of people that willingly put up with him. He can’t leave him. 

He won’t.

“Wait, Donald stop! There are others trapped in the stern, they will not last long with the rate at which the ship is taking on water. Communications were cut before their location could be revealed to Command. You have to get them first!” Uno worries.

Donald shakes his head. He turns to Aqua and signs for the pokemon to go get others for help. Layla or Mary Ann will know what it means. He looks at Porygon2 who is losing energy fast, Donald figures once the pokemon does tire, the water will get into Uno’s circuits and kill him. There’s no time for anyone else to help him besides Donald. The other soldiers will be fine without his help.

Donald looks at his pokemon and the surrounding area, there’s no room for his stronger pokemon in the hallway. Nipper makes a frustrated noise and Hawser angrily slams against the metal, the Seadra furious over its weakness.

Donald feels his lungs burn with his own anger. Or, actually, that might be the lack of air.

“Donald!” Uno reaches for him, “Donald you have to leave, please! You will drown!”

He ignores him and grabs the metal again, Nipper joining him, and Hawser gearing up to try to ram it away. They pull and pull and he sees a bright light as both of his pokemon evolve. The metal falls away. Donald’s vision is fading. He signs to his pokemon to get Porygon2 and Uno up to the surface. He shoves his pokéball belt into Uno’s hands and instinctively inhales out of desperation for air.

“Donald!” Uno yells as Nipper grabs him and takes him to the surface. He’s never seen his friend express so much emotion before, “No!” He’s never seen him look so devastated and horrified.

Hawser nudges it's trainer curiously. 

Donald can’t feel the invisible force dragging him down. 

His vision goes black. 

At least he was able to do something right for once, before the end.

…

“Donald Duck.” A voice booms in his head, “I have been waiting for you.”

He coughs up water as a bubble of air forms around him. For what feels like an eternity he can't stop vomiting, his body doing it's best to replace the ocean in his lungs for air. Even after all of it is out of his lungs, and stomach, he keeps gagging. The smell of salt is overwhelming and his head pounds with a killer headache. 

It takes him a while to recover and longer still to realize that it is very dark save for glowing silver eyes in front of him. It’s watching him.

“Do you know what it means to have a silver soul?”

He stares dumbly, still in shock. Far above him Uno and his friends are yelling for someone to send down a pokémon to get him. The soldiers that are helped up from their watery prison respond with confusion, they didn’t see him on the way out.

“You are very brave-” The figure in front of him says. “-to be willing to give your life for someone you love. Tell me, how long has the water called to you?”

‘Since birth’ he thinks, but he’s still too out of it to properly answer. The creature’s powers are all that keep him from collapsing. 

“Yes.” The voice says, like it knows, “You, to whom the ocean calls, with a heart of courage and love. You with the silver soul are worthy to be my Chosen.”

Donald’s eyes have finally adjusted to the dark, just in time to see a blue and silver pokémon press its head against his. “I am Lugia, Guardian of the Seas, and I choose you.”

A cool sensation ripples across his back. The voice in his head shrinks and he can sense Lugia’s presence without it saying a word. It swims over his thoughts and anchors itself in the back of his mind. He’s never felt so relaxed in his life and for a moment he never wants to leave, this is where he belongs. 

A noise interrupts the moment. He and Lugia turn as one to watch Aqua and Nipper approach. They wait patiently behind their trainer, near Hawser who has been waiting the entire time. 

“They love you.” Lugia says to him, then turns to his pokémon, “My apologies for scaring you. Your trainer is just fine.”

A bright flash of light above them catches their attention. He can sense Lugia tense and he starts to worry. “Despicable.” His Chooser growls, “Go to your friends, I will handle Team Aqua.” Lugia swiftly streamlines over towards Team Aqua’s ship. Donald’s pokémon grab him the second the bubble closes in on him and swim him up to the surface. 

…

They were leaving. 

Their ship had gone under, claimed by the sea. They weren’t a threat to Team Aqua anymore, so Donald spends years afterwards wondering why.

…

His head breaks the surface and the sight that greets him is nothing short of horrific. Soldiers and Pokemon alike are sinking in the water or passed out on their transport. They all have burn wounds and some are very clearly dead. The rest are trying to get their friends or trainers to wake up.

…

He wonders how cruel one group can possibly be. Not even Magica would have done what they did.

… 

What happened?

He has Nipper swim him over to the closest raft. In it, his Admiral is unconscious, Mary Ann is having a seizure on the floor, and Uno isn’t moving. He climbs in and tries to get his crewmate in a position that she won’t hurt herself in. He sees the web-like pattern of red peeking out of her shirt. Her pant leg shifts up and he sees the severely bruised and burnt wound winding up her leg in a branching pattern. 

An electric attack. A very big one. 

…

They were clearly already defeated and yet. 

And yet.

…

He’s frozen, his mind won’t work, too much has happened in such a short amount of time.

It’s Lugia that gets his butt in gear, “Your comrades need your help. Help them.”

He snatches his pokéballs from Uno’s grasp. His legs are too shaky for him to stand so he’s sitting when he gives them orders, “Get as many people into rafts as possible. Killick, you and Hawser scout for people. Captain, you and Nipper get people into the rafts. Aqua, you and Allision help them. Use Aqua Ring on a few groups of rafts at a time, our priority right now is to stop people from drowning. Captain and Nipper can get the pokémon once everyone is in a raft. There’s no time to lose, go!”

His pokémon move to follow his commands and he turns his attention to Uno. “Uno? Buddy?” He shakes him gently. 

The android doesn’t respond. Donald feels his face heat up and his vision blurs. “Don’t leave me. Please?” Uno doesn’t even so much as twitch. His eyes are lidded and his body is stiff. His circuits were fried from the attack. 

He’s gone.

…

What could they possibly have been hoping to accomplish?

…

Donald’s heart shatters. 

In the end, he hadn’t succeeded in doing anything other than prolonging his friend’s death. He’s overwhelmed with emotion.

He hasn’t felt grief like this, not even after his parents died. It hurts so much.

Rage explodes from deep in his chest, burning away some of the pain. It’s stronger than he’s ever felt before. It’s like a typhoon, unforgiving and unrelenting. He wants to break something. He wants Team Aqua to hurt and suffer. He wants justice. 

Suddenly, he’s not slumped next to his friend but swimming through the water. He sees the ships approaching fast and he spins, creating a vortex. It picks up the boats and sends them high into the sky. He stops and lets them crash back down. Most shatter on impact. 

He doesn’t care. 

He’s terrified that he doesn’t care. 

…

Sharing his mind with a god can be very scary sometimes. It can be difficult for him to talk to Lugia for days at a time. He can’t help it, the sheer amount of satisfaction he – Lugia? – felt when the ships were reduced to rubble and the complete apathy for the people on board was, and still is, extremely disconcerting. 

…

Lugia pushes him back into his own mind. He gasps from the mental force and he tries to catch his breath as he realizes that he never left the raft.

“Hm, we might be more compatible than I realized.” Lugia ponders.

“What was that?!” He asks, and at this point he is very tired of being scared and worried. He hasn’t felt the two leeching emotions since he last saw Della and Scrooge years ago and he’s not as used to them now.

He’s suddenly hit with the thought that as of a couple minutes ago his mind is no longer his own. How does Della deal with this? How does Scrooge? 

Oh, right. They don’t.

Donald leaves the questions that are forming for another time. He has people who need his help and he has to sort through the living and the dead. There aren’t enough rafts for all of them now that the pokémon need transport as well.

He needs the distraction the work will bring him, as awful as it will be. He forces himself to stand, limbs trembling the entire time. He can’t look back at Uno’s body, it hurts too much.

…

His senses take him back more often than he likes. 

The smell of burnt flesh stops him from cooking meat for a while and even years later there are occasions when he has to stop grilling and run to the bathroom to throw up. He gets chills down his spine when he hears a noise that’s a little too similar to the wails of an injured soldier or pokémon trying to wake the dead. The feel of charred skin beneath his fingertips makes it hard to touch some textiles and he has to be careful about what he picks up for a long time. The taste of salt can abruptly ruin his appetite in the middle of a meal. He pulls his nephews out of the water the second one of them comes close to doing a dead man’s float. He makes them wear life vests just in case.

…

He gags a lot, his stomach already empty from the near drowning. 

The dead bodies of pokémon and soldiers are too much. He has Hawser trap the bodies in ice so they can come back and give them a proper burial. He isn’t sure what else he can possibly do for them. 

He leaves Uno in his raft.

He’s exhausted and so are his pokémon. A couple people regain consciousness thanks to Aqua Ring but many are still too wounded to be of much help. The sun has set by the time rescue arrives. 

…

Panchito and José are patient. They don’t let his anger phase them despite how much more easily he’s riled up. They reassure him after he hauls the two bodily out of a spring when a wild electric type shows up. They sit with him when he wakes up screaming. They sing him back to reality when he has flashbacks.

He doesn’t know what he’d do without them.

He didn’t know what he’d do without Uno. He knows now, and he hates it. 

…

Of his group, Donald is the least injured and that makes him the one to report to the higher ups first. He’s honest as much as he can be, only because he’s a terrible liar. He tells them about Lugia’s presence but omits the part of him bonding with it. 

Lugia stopped Team Aqua. Lugia saved him from drowning, the depth to which he sank all that spared him from the electric attack, and then the legendary vanished, gone after Team Aqua was dealt with. 

He’s the only one that comes home from the Navy without any visible scars. 

Mary Ann tells him once, when he visits her in the hospital, that the pattern the scars make are actually kind of bad ass. 

“Don’t be jealous though, Don. I’m glad you didn’t get hit.”

…

Sometimes, he wishes he had been with them when they’d been struck. Maybe he could have done something to stop it. Maybe he could have been with Uno when he passed.

…

“We thought you were dead.” Mary Ann confesses.

Uno is gone. 

Lyla is gone. 

They will never know that he didn’t drown.

He sincerely hopes they hadn’t wanted to join him in the afterlife. 

…

He wonders, months later, what became of Porygon2 and Beheeyem. 

As is customary, the pokémon of dead trainers are given to their families. 

He spares a moment to ponder over who Uno’s family might be. Both of his pokémon were in their balls when the attack hit, allowing them to survive when their trainer did not, but he hadn’t seen either since that awful day. 

He pushes the thought down and locks it up. He doesn’t want to think about it.

…

Too many officers and pokémon didn’t make it home. 

He’s reassured many times that because of his efforts and his team, many more people are alive and have a good chance at a recovery. 

He goes to a lot of funerals.

They give him a medal.

…

He puts the stupid thing in a box with some pictures of him, Uno, Mary Ann, and Layla. Stefan’s camera had survived, somehow, and the photographer had given him the photos at Uno’s funeral. 

He shoves the box into the back of the highest shelf in his closet.

…

He fails the psych evaluation. They call him temperamental and diagnose him with PTSD. 

They make him resign and give him a bottle of pills for his troubles. (He stops paying for the antidepressants not long after the boys turn six, they’re expensive and if the boys want to stay in Junior Woodchucks, he has to get the money for their entry fees somewhere. It’s fine. He’s fine. His boys need an outlet for their energy more than Donald needs the pills.) 

He goes home with a tattoo on his back, stronger Pokémon, a medal of honor, mental scars, and two dead friends. 

…

“I see your Magikarp still hasn’t evolved.” Gladstone smiles at him when he exits his gate. 

His grandmother smacks his cousin upside the head. Fethry gives him a hug. Della and Scrooge aren’t there.

He wants to cry.

He doesn’t tell them about the tattoo or the medal of honor. He doesn’t mention that his pokemon evolved or that he has to take antidepressants now. He doesn’t show them the pictures of his friends and comrades, most of whom are now dead. He doesn’t scream about how unfair it is. He doesn’t get mad.

He doesn’t cry. 

He doesn’t do anything but stand there and go through the motions.

He never says a thing about his military career. 

His dream of being seen as someone other than Della’s failure of a twin brother is squashed under his mental heel. 

The medal and tattoo weren’t worth it.

His friends weren’t worth it.

This was his biggest failure yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't speak Italian but I so badly want to read the PK series. DISNEY WHY? That being said the characters might be OOC just because I'm going off of what other people have said about them and what little the kind people of the duck fandom have translated. Shout out to those guys!


	5. Back on Topic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So we've seen what's haunting Donald, how will his family react to what remains?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, yes, I'm alive. Unfortunately I haven't had a lot of time to work on this (i.e. all my free time has been few and far between and I've spent most of it reading PK comics) and I apologize for the shorter chapter, but have no fear I will be continuing this series! I hope you like it.
> 
> This au is loosely based on Surfacage's Pokemon Go au go check it out!
> 
> Edit: I forgot to add the accents on the 'é's of pokéballs and pokémon.

His vision goes fuzzy and he clenches his hand in a fist, hoping it will hurt enough to keep him grounded. The last thing he needs is to get drawn into a flashback right now. 

“Uncle Donald?” Louie asks again, a bit more forcefully than before. His confusion replaced by fear. 

Donald can’t respond to his nephew’s call, too busy frantically trying to cling to reality. It’s too quiet in the conference room and he can’t ground himself with silence. He tries to focus on the brown polish of the table, his pale face stares back at him and he can see the fear in his own eyes. He hates flashbacks, they leave him with shaky legs that won’t hold his weight and he never sleeps well the following nights. He especially hates how useless they make him feel. The episodes take hours from him that could be spent doing something productive. 

He’s happy and so grateful that Panchito and José helped him get the flashbacks under control, he’s learned to recognize the warning signs early and he’s been able to avoid many flashbacks. 

He can’t have one now, not in front of his family.

“Donald? Cousin?” Gladstone moves his hand to touch his cousin, trying to get a reaction. By this time the whole room has realized that something is wrong with Donald. The kids climb over the table (or under in Webby and Louie’s case) to get closer. Scrooge stands from his own chair but doesn’t try to approach. 

Gladstone’s hand is stopped before he can touch his cousin. 

…

Granny has taught her a lot.

Webby knows the basics of tactical pokemon and human warfare, how to move without ever making a sound, how to take down enemies twice her size, how to get out of restraints, and she can even change her accent however she pleases. 

She’s also learned a thing or two from just watching her Granny. 

There was a time when Webby was practicing her sneaking and she bumped a vase. Her Granny was dusting across the room, acting as Webby’s unsuspecting target. When the vase crashed to the ground and Granny whirled around she didn’t see her Granny, had she been older or more experienced she would have recognized her as a soldier. Little Webby analyzed her Granny’s face and saw clouded eyes and stiff muscles. 

Her Granny’s eyes focused on her after a couple seconds and the elder duck praised her for her sneaking but reminded her to always be aware of her surroundings lest she blow her cover like that again. Webby asked her guardian why she looked so weird. 

Mrs. Beakley sighed and sat her down. 

“When something traumatic happens to someone, sometimes the incident never leaves them. It varies from person to person but when you see someone look like I just did, do not touch them, especially me. Okay?”

“Okay, Granny! I hope you feel better soon! I’ll go get Dominator, they’re great for hugs!” Webby smiles, believing that her Regigigas will be able to hug her Granny better. Hugs fix everything. Though Granny and Mr. Scrooge don’t like hugs, Regigigas’ are enough to make up for both of them. 

Later, she’ll look up PTSD and teach herself to watch for the signs. She does her best to try to find out how to help someone with it, just in case Granny ever needs her help, but the books she finds simply say that it differs from person to person. She’ll have to ask Granny herself to find out what works for her, but her Granny would never tell her, insisting that there was no need. So, she shut her book and reminded herself that her Granny is the strongest person she knows.

She put the books away and shook the topic from her mind.

She’s forgotten about most of the techniques used to calm someone down, but she does remember above all else, her Granny’s words about touch. 

She’s the one who grabs Gladstone’s wrist. 

“Don’t you’ll make it worse!” She gives the green clad duck a stern look.

“What’s wrong with him?” Huey asks, kneeling on the table next to Dewey, who stands.

“Why don’t you kids go get us dinner?” Uncle Scrooge cuts in.

“What?” Dewey looks at him, shocked by the abrupt change in subject.

“I’m going to call Launchpad, you know where he’ll pick you up. Move along now.” Scrooge shoves them out of the room with his cane. 

The door closes behind them, before the ducklings can untangle themselves.

Dewey lets out a frustrated noise. "This is horse crap!"

"Dewey." Huey scolds, but the frown on his face betrays his own feelings on the matter.

"Oh, don't start Huey! You're just as mad! How can they do this to us? He didn't tell us anything about mom, or about the legendaries, or-I just-ugh!" Dewey stomps his foot.

His brothers don't react, they let Dewey rant. Louie is quietly brooding in his hoodie and Huey is fighting his temper, lest he break the door down. Webby looks at the oak door, worried. 

“-and then Scrooge kicks us out and now we have another mystery on our hands, because something is wrong with Uncle Donald and we’re stuck out here!” 

Webby turns, ready to try to explain, when a whimper cuts through the dark hallway.

“Is it my fault? Is it because he got hit on the head?” Dewey whines, eyes wet.

He’s looking at Huey who hesitates to give him an answer. Yes, it could be because of the injury their Uncle sustained on the boat, brain injuries were supposed to result in weird and dangerous bodily reactions. He doesn’t want to say it, however, because he knows if he does then it will convince everyone that their Uncle’s strange behavior is indeed Dewey’s fault. 

Back on the boat, during the ambush, the Beagle Boys had cornered the kids and Donald in the living area. Huey had the idea to scatter and despite Uncle Donald being against it the ducklings had decided to go for it. Webby and Huey darted one way, Louie ran towards the vents, and Dewey had slid between the Beagle Boys’ legs to get to the hallway on the other side. Donald, panicked, sent his Pokémon after the children. Mizzen after Webby and Huey, and Tramper after Louie. Allision had been sent to warn Scrooge before they were cornered so Donald took off after his most rambunctious nephew.

He found him trying to fight off the Beagle Boys’ pokemon. Dewey was going to be a great trainer one day, Donald had no doubt, but right now he and his pokemon were naïve and inexperienced. His Oshawott, Killer, and his Panpour, Striker, were defeated by the time Donald arrived. 

Just as one of the Beagle Boys’ Aipom was about to hit Dewey, his Uncle had tackled him and taken the brunt of the attack. Unfortunately for Donald, the attack landed on the back of his skull. With an injured hostage, it didn’t take long to round up the ducklings and send them to their Uncle Scrooge at the bow of the ship. Dewey had been in shock the entire time. He had thought his Uncle was dead when he saw the limp body pulled off him by the Beagle Boys.

And now there was something wrong with him. Uncle Donald’s face had gone so pale and he had been so unresponsive in the meeting room…how could it not be because of the hit he’d taken for Dewey?

When he saw his brother hesitate, Dewey started crying.

“It wasn’t his injury, Dewey, he was healed by his pokemon remember?” Louie pats his brother’s back.

“Louie’s right. I…” Webby stops. Of all the people she thought could have PTSD, Uncle Donald was not one of them. The two people she looked up to the most, Granny and Uncle Donald, had demons in their heads. It seemed like their strength came with a price tag. 

She always wanted to be just like them, ‘But-‘ she wondered, ‘is it worth it?’

“I think he has PTSD.”

…

‘Breathe.’ Lugia commands

Donald sucks in air through his nose and it’s a relief to smell stale, dusty air rather than burnt flesh. The faint whiff of Windex isn’t potent enough to really ground him, but it does calm him down a little. He doesn’t fully relax for a long while, terrified that the memories will reach out and grab him at any second. He hasn’t forgotten how awful the flashbacks are and more than anything he doesn’t want to go through them again. 

When he finally does relax, his shoulders slump and he brings a hand up to run it through his head feathers. Exhaustion takes hold of his body, he’s so tired. 

“Don?” 

He drags his eyes over to his cousin. 

Gladstone is hovering worriedly at his side, unsure. His hand is out as if his cousin was going to touch him but stopped half way. 

“Are you…” His cousin struggles for a moment, “okay?”

No. He’s not.

He wants to curl up in a dark place, forget the pain and misery the Navy brought him, and sleep for a few years. 

He looks around the room. Uncle Scrooge has moved to his right effectively caging Donald between Uncle and Cousin. The ducklings are gone.

“Where are the kids?”

“I sent them out to get dinner with Launchpad.” Scrooge answers, “You weren’t responding to us, I thought it best to send the kids away.”

Donald nods, “Okay…okay…” 

His family looks at him like he’s about to break. He’s too tired to get angry but he does feel a twinge of annoyance. When he goes to pick his seat up Gladstone beats him to it. 

“Here you go Don.” He says, righting it so Donald can sit down. It’s the most work he thinks he’s seen Gladstone do for someone other than himself. That he’s doing it for Donald is a little insulting. He’s not an invalid and besides, since when does his cousin care?

He looks from Gladstone back over to Scrooge and narrows his eyes. They’ve both got the same look on their faces. 

“You can stop.” He says, decidedly not sinking into the chair like he wants. 

“Stop? Don you looked like you were going to have a panic attack!” Gladstone argues

“Ye were very quiet for a long time lad…” Scrooge trails.

“I had it handled.” Donald still doesn’t sit. 

“Oh, sure you did. Pale as a sheet, unresponsive for over half an hour, yeah that sounds like you had it under control.” His cousin scolds.

He’s too tired for this. He wants to go to bed, not argue over something his family knows nothing about.

Donald leans against the table, “Good, then we agree. Now stop.”

“Donald, lad, we’re just…” Scrooge doesn’t do feelings. Donald knows this, the whole family knows this. Better to just spare him the futile struggle, he figures.

“Spare me.” He interrupts, “I’m not Della, you can stop pretending you care.”

His Uncle freezes and Gladstone gasps. 

Why did he say that? Now he has to-

“Donald Fauntleroy Duck, how dare you?” Scrooge’s face turns red as he grounds the words out.

-deal with this. Dammit.

‘No, you know what?’ He thinks, ‘Fuck it.’

“How dare I? How dare you! You don’t get to abandon the triplets and I for ten years then swoop in like you suddenly give a damn! I know how you feel about me and I’m sorry I’m never going to be good enough for you, but don’t treat me like an invalid just to boost your own ego!”

“You don’t know anything! Listen to yerself!”

“Enough! Stop fighting!” Gladstone gets between the two enraged ducks. It doesn’t take much to stop Donald, the duck has little energy left in him after yesterday and today’s events. Gladstone pushes him into the chair with only some effort. Uncle Scrooge backs off when Donald does, his brows are furrowed, and his eyes are blazing, yet in the center of the fire Gladstone can see a spark of agony. 

“Donald, what did we do to make you think we didn’t care?” Gladstone asks

Donald huffs, “Bad things happen to people you don’t like Gladstone. Think about it.” He gives his Uncle a tired and resigned look, “What else was I supposed to think when you stopped answering my calls Uncle Scrooge? I know you both liked Della better than me, hell I like her better than me too. Trust me, if I could switch places with her I would.”

He can’t see himself, but Donald looks so very small and tired in his chair that it hurts his family more than he will ever know. 

Hands grip his arms in a bruising hold and he’s startled into looking at his cousin, “Don’t-Don’t say that. You can’t mean it.” His cousin looks ready to cry.

“Why not?” He’s so tired.

“Because that means that Della’s disappearance is my fault.” His arms are released, and his cousin’s hands go up to his bill in sad horror. Donald’s eyes widen, regret taking over resignation and he’s stirred into action.

“No, no Gladstone you loved her more than anyone. She left because she wanted to, luck had nothing to do with it.” He embraces his cousin and pulls him close. Their stances make it an awkward hold, with Gladstone standing and Donald sitting, holding his cousin’s head to his chest. The Gander curls into his older cousin’s lap, sobbing into his shoulder. 

“It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Donald whispers, soothingly, as if he’s holding one of the ducklings. He rubs his cousin’s back with his hurting hand gently and pets his head with his other hand.

“I should have loved her more. Do you think that would have helped? I-what if I didn’t like her? Then she would have had to stay, right?” Gladstone blubbers out.

“Nothing would have stopped her, you know that, she was too much of a firecracker. It’s not your fault Gladstone, no one blames you.” Donald shushes. 

A hand rests on his shoulder and when Donald looks up its to meet the eyes of an old duck. “I’m sorry, to both of you. I should have realized…well, it’s too late now.” Scrooge shakes his head. “Gladstone, stop your crying. Donald is right, we don’t blame you.” His Uncle gives the orders but doesn’t speak as if its an immediate demand. “And Donald. Me boy, you raised triplets all by yerself for a decade, ye joined the military and served yer country, and yer always lookin after the rest o’ us. I should have said this before, but I’m so proud of ye.”

He’s not sure why he starts crying. Maybe it’s the exhaustion, maybe it’s been too long since he’s last had a good cry, but it’s definitely not because of his Uncle’s words. Whatever the reason: his vision blurs again, this time with a burn in his cheeks. 

Uncle Scrooge pulls his nephews into an embrace and Donald can see the duck’s shoulders shake through the tears. Gladstone is still hiccupping into his shoulder which means they’re all crying. 

What a sight they must make. 

…

He falls asleep in the chair at some point and when he wakes he’s still in his Uncle’s arms. They’re not in the conference room, though, because he recognizes the ceiling of one of the main living rooms. He looks around, confused. It’s dark. The only light in the room is coming from the hallway that leads towards the kitchen. He suspects the kids had something to do with the blankets and pillows strewn around the floor, but one of the older ducks must have gotten the mattresses they’re lying on.

Uncle Scrooge is in the middle of the enormous pile, on his side with his arm wrapped around Donald. Gladstone has his back to Uncle Scrooge and Donald can see Louie draped over the poor duck’s side, his chest on the mattress and his legs hanging over his lucky Uncle. Webby has her feet on top of Louie’s back and Dewey’s arm is being held hostage in her arms. The blue clad triplet himself is perpendicular to Scrooge’s head and if the duckling kicks out, he’s going to take his Great Uncle out. Donald moves to stop that from happening when he realizes that Huey is latched onto his waist. Behind Huey the triplet’s Pokémon are curled around each other with Uncle Scrooge’s Persian and Gladstone’s Sawsbuck in the mix. The two larger Pokémon are acting as pillows for the ape Pokémon and mattresses for the starters. Donald thinks he sees some shadowy figures in the middle of the pile as well indicating that Webby’s Pokémon weren’t left out. 

A soft noise behind Donald alerts him to the fact that the rest of his and Uncle Scrooge’s Pokémon are around the perimeter of the room. Well, the ones that can be on land anyway. Donald spares a moment to imagine that Hawser, Aqua, and Agua are asleep at the bottom of one of the pools. Aqua would definitely be curled around the Magikarp and Kingdra, the Gyrados can be awfully protective. 

Donald goes to lay back down, happy to go to sleep knowing that everyone is safe and sound when he starts to wonder what woke him in the first place. 

‘I do not like this.’ Lugia says

‘What? What’s wrong?’ Donald responds

‘Trouble is brewing. I can sense it and so can the others.’

‘Others?’

‘Regigigas, Heatran, and Jirachi. You are all in the same room and I can sense their unease from their pokeballs.’

Donald looks around a bit more and sure enough he sees the pokéballs sitting side by side on one of the tables. Scrooge rarely ever lets Heatran leave his pokéball and the same can be said for Gladstone and Jirachi. It would be very dangerous if others were to learn that the Legendaries were caught in pokéballs. They could be stolen. But Webby is less inclined to confine Regigigas and often lets him sit out in the yard. It had given Donald a fright when he first walked out of the houseboat the morning after moving in to the pool in Scrooge’s backyard. The pokemon was still and offered no ill intent, but it’s size and the suddenness of its appearance took some years off Donald’s life. 

That Regigias, the continent mover, feels the same unease as Heatran and Jirachi, is worrying. 

‘How bad?’

‘Hard to say, but I believe whatever is coming will not be here tomorrow nor in the next few weeks. Return to your sleep. There is nothing we can do for now.’

Donald can’t help but worry anyway. He’s hard pressed to go to sleep after that and he gives up after a while. If anyone asks, its because of Gladstone and Uncle Scrooge’s snoring.

He carefully detaches Huey and slips out from under his Uncle’s arm. The two quickly adjust, latching on to each other instead and Donald moves Dewey as he had originally intended. While he’s at it he swoops in and saves both Gladstone and Louie from future aches by moving Louie to the floor. 

He redistributes the blankets that have been kicked off and slides pillows under heads until everyone looks comfortable. Then he slips off to the kitchen. 

Living with Uncle Scrooge gives him access to the more expensive cooking wear like crockpots and blenders. He pulls out the ingredients for pancakes out of habit and he’s simultaneously pleased and disappointed when he sees that its almost 7. Perfect time to start making pancakes, but a terrible time to wake up if you didn’t want to waste an entire afternoon the day before.

He shrugs, he was sick of working at the post office anyway.

The smell of pancakes draws the rest of the family into the kitchen, Mrs. Beakley and Launchpad show up as well and breakfast is a pleasant affair, if not a bit quiet, but he’s not surprised by the silence. No one in the duck family tree is a morning person and Mrs. Beakley, who no one has ever seen sleep, isn’t one for idle chatter. 

Louie is slowly waking up thanks to the breakfast, but he’s still clearly about to nod off at the drop of a pin. Huey and Webby are fairing better, both nearly wide awake and shoveling their syrup drenched pancakes down their throats. Dewey is going at his plate a bit slower than normal, watching his Uncle Scrooge cut his own pancakes and trying to match his movements. Gladstone has a napkin shoved down his shirt and he’s eating like he’s in a high-class restaurant. Mrs. Beakley has already finished her food and is already starting to clean up the dishes Donald used to cook. Launchpad is asleep at his plate and swift smack from Mrs. Beakley wakes him up. 

“I’m a good Moleperson!” He cries and looks around nervous.

The kids snicker.

Donald can’t help but smile at their happiness. 

They’ve got a long way to go.

Scrooge and Gladstone are giving him and each other concerned looks and the kids are likely already plotting to uncover whatever else they want to know about Legendaries. The ducklings are undoubtedly still mad at him for keeping so much from them and then, there’s the danger Lugia warned him of. Something is coming, and the family is still putting themselves back together, but having a nice breakfast together with everyone at the dinner table? Well, it’s a start.


	6. Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble rears it's head. Pokemon and people are lost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did it!!! New chapter! Sorry for the wait, my schedule is not as open as it once was, but thanks to all your nice comments I was able to persevere! You're all so great! Special thanks to Niminine! Many ideas were bounced around and slam dunked with them! Check out their story and Tumblr!

In the Alola region on an island called Poni Island a desperate battle is taking place. The island itself is small compared to its sister islands in the area and at a glance it doesn’t look special or interesting, but for the sharp of instinct and sharper of mind, it harbors something otherworldly amidst its vast canyons. 

On an ordinary day the island is silent, it’s canyons housing only the local Pokémon and two people: the island Kahuna, Hapu, and the Trial Captain, Mina, who provide guidance to trainers participating in the Island Trials and preside over the land. Both are absent on this night. In their place stand a plethora of trainers from two opposing sides. One stands with the police, both international and local, headed by the Champions of various regions. The other stands with a criminal organization known as Team Rainbow Rocket, a group composed of Team members from around the world that devote themselves to criminal activities. 

Both sides are a mixture of different characters and Pokémon from every region in the world. The members from each side stand together, united for their causes. The current goal for each being the immobilization of their opponents. 

The canyons, silent and ghost-like on a good day, do nothing to hinder the clamor of battle; the tiny island drowns in the noise and explosions of light. Weather changes rapidly and sporadically as Pokémon bend the elements to their will, indirectly influencing the battles happening in the sky and the water. Among the chaos, a figure sprints up the stairs of the Altar of the Moone, leaving his companions at the base to cover his ascension. 

“Enough Giovanni! It’s over!” Mickey proclaims when he reaches the top. 

He’s out of breath from the battles and the climb. His Pokémon are bruised but not beaten, there is still time to change the outcome of the fight. 

“On the contrary, Champion!” The dog counters, turning to face Mickey with a pure white pokéball in his hands, “It ended some time ago.”

A Pokémon is released with the push of a finger and Mickey finds himself standing face to face with a Lunala. 

“We’ve got what we came for, move to phase two! Pull back!” Giovanni orders into an ear piece.

The wind picks up as a helicopter comes over the canyon behind him. Two henchmen toss down a rope ladder. Mickey releases his oldest and strongest companion, Typhlosion, and burns away the helicopter ladder before Giovanni can climb it. 

Giovanni scowls and releases his Pokémon for a final battle. 

…

He’s startled awake by the piercing shriek of a red alert. The flashing light across the cabin illuminates the small room in a bright – wait, that’s not red. Donald takes in the familiar blue of his old room in the mansion, the moonlight filters in through the blinds providing a soft glow that soothes his panic. The settings and the color are all wrong.

What in the world is that alarm?

Magica wouldn’t attack so soon after her previous attempt, it’s only been a week. Then again, he thinks, Magica has proven to be a persistent foe in the past. 

“What’s going on?!” He hears Louie scream next door and Donald throws off the covers.

“It’s the tax collectors!” Webby yells as Donald dons his robe and opens the door, she must have been in the vents again because her voice comes out of a grate in the hall.

“Why am I not surprised?” Dewey grumbles, coming out of the boys’ room. The triplets had only lasted an hour in separate bedrooms.

“Is everyone okay?” He questioned the ducklings. Huey and Louie are just behind Dewey. Louie is rubbing his eye and clutching Huey’s sleeve. Dewey is in front of them both and his hands are entangled with his brothers’. Webby exits the grate and joins their little cluster in the hall. Habitually, Donald scans them over for injuries or some evidence that might suggest bad dreams. 

Webby’s Marshadow pokes at Louie’s Pansage who is clasping its trainer’s foot in the hopes it will be dragged along, Louie’s Snivy is glaring at the alarm overhead with Dewey’s Oshawott, the two sitting atop their trainers’ heads. Huey’s Tepig is running around the group, excited, and Webby’s Mimikyu chases after it for fun. The remaining two Pokémon, Pansear and Panpour, are clinging onto Huey and Dewey respectively as if they were makeshift backpacks, Pansear is considerably more awake than Panpour.

“Where’s the fire?” Gladstone yawns, coming out of his own room across the hall. Donald can’t help the face he makes at the sheer number of hair rollers the duck has in his head feathers.

“It’s the tax collectors, the alarm only ever sounds when they’ve come to steal Uncle Scrooge’s money.” Webby passionately declares. There’s a gleam in her eyes that tells the boys something is about to go down.

“Whit dae ye think yer doin’!?” Uncle Scrooge bellows down the hall.

Uh-oh. A thick Scottish accent is never a good sign.

The group hustles down the hall, Donald scooping Louie up when it’s clear the duckling is still half-asleep. The kids really didn’t need their sleep interrupted by tax collectors of all things. Sleep is important for children and Donald is definitely going to be having a chat with Uncle Scrooge about this.

“Mr. McDuck this is a matter of national security! If you would please cooperate-“ someone urges.

“Cooperate!? Ye broke intae mah haem! Ah hae rights! Beakley!” Scrooge fumes.

The ducks come into the entrance hall to the sight of two government agents standing just inside the entrance. One has her hands up in a placating manner, lips drawn into a line. The other is standing at attention behind her. Scrooge is giving them both a nasty look, Beakley standing behind him with her arms crossed. Scrooge’s Persian is bristling next to Beakley’s Roserade. The agents’ Empoleon and Pidgeot eye the two cautiously.

Rumbling comes from down the hall to the West Wing, at first the sound is far enough away that it blends in with the cacophony of noise the alarm makes, but as the seconds pass the sound grows until the roar of a stampede catches everyone’s attention. Nipper emerges first, Donald’s and some of Scrooge’s Pokémon behind him. The Poliwrath charges headfirst into the Empoleon. 

The room atmosphere drops and both sides tense before the Empoleon lets out a snicker from the floor. The Pokémon aren’t fighting, they’re wrestling – playing in fact. Donald is surprised to realize he knows that snicker, he knows that Empoleon, and, as a matter of fact, he knows that agent.

“Mary Ann?” Donald marveled.

“Donald!” Mary Ann grins at him. Her entire demeanor changes when she sees him, and she takes off her aviators. Emperor and Nipper stand up and chest bump. “I didn’t see you there!”

“How are you?” He smiles, and Mary Ann comes over to greet him.

Scrooge glares at her back. He slams his cane down on the floor, “Duckworth! Turn off that racket!”

The mansion descends into blissful silence, the serenity of night finally returning to the mansion. The triplets and Gladstone sigh in relief. The chandelier light comes on forcing some of the group to flinch and blink furiously.

Mary Ann is unaffected, “I’m doing great! Ziggy got a job at a news station and I joined the PBI, what about you?”

“I’m alright, anything is better than listening to Fangus give out orders every morning.”

“Agreed, that avian is insufferable.” His old friend glances down at the kids, “These your kids?”

“No, they’re my niece and nephews. Mary Ann this is Huey, Dewey, and Louie.” He points at the triplets one by one. The boys say hello and give her a wave. Louie’s greeting is just an arm flop before he buries his head into his Uncle’s arms in a futile attempt to block out the light. “And this is Webby and my cousin Gladstone.”

“Hi! I’m Webby!” His niece enthuses. 

“Hey.” Gladstone waves.

“Hello.” Mary Ann offers a grin to them.

“And you’ve already met Uncle Scrooge.”

“Pleasure.” Mary Ann grumbles, her hospitality evaporating.

“Please, it was all mine.” Uncle Scrooge grunts back.

“What are you doing here? You’re not the tax collectors.” Webby inquires, running up to the agent.

“I’m here on business.” Mary Ann looks at Donald apologetically, “As of right now you are all to be taken into protective custody.”

“Whoa!” Gladstone lurches back.

“Excuse me?” Scrooge jolts.

“What?” Huey and Dewey yelp at the same time. 

“Mary Ann what’s going on?” Donald asks.

“I’m not authorized to tell you that, Donald. This area isn’t secure. You’ll be debriefed soon, I promise.” Mary Ann soothes. She puts her aviators back on, “You are allowed your Pokémon and one (1) bag. Anything larger than 25 x 14 inches is not permitted. We leave in ten.”

“This is – “ Scrooge starts to snap.

“I can take you willingly or in cuffs Mr. McDuck. Your choice.” The agent counters, her cohort stepping up to add weight to her statement.

“Come on boys.” Donald shepherds the boys back to their room to pack.

“Webby, do you still have your case?” Beakley asks and the girl squeals at the question. The duckling sprints down the hall to her own room, her Pokémon bounding after her.

“Pack like we’re going on an adventure, boys. Remember your homework and if there’s room you can bring one object to take with you. Yes, Huey, your guidebook counts.” Donald instructs. The boys have gone on enough adventures to know how to pack, that won’t stop him from double checking that they have everything, though.

“Mary.” He goes back into the entrance hall; his friend stands from her position leaning against the front door. “I have to get important documents from my houseboat out back.”

“I’ll come with you.” She declares, “Thanks for telling me, we’ve got the house surrounded and I would hate for someone to think you’re sneaking out.”

Donald snorts, “Sneaking out? Me?”

Mary smirks at him, “Yes you, if I recall correctly, you were the one that snuck the alcohol on board the ship. Don’t think that no one saw you do it.”

“And if I recall correctly, you helped drink said alcohol.” Donald counters. They chuckle at the memories and step outside. The walk to the houseboat is silent barring the early bird’s song and the summer insect’s cries.

“Are you sure you’ll need these important documents?” She asks

“Seeing as we have no idea where we’re going, for how long, or why? Yes. Call me paranoid, but I’m not going anywhere without the boys’ birth certificates or passports.” He unlocks the door and lets her in.

“Hopefully we’ll have this all resolved quickly.” Mary offered, closing the door behind her. Donald goes over to a locked cabinet in the kitchen and pulls out the boys’ documents as well as his own.

"So, what's a PBI agent doing with the International Police?" He slyly observes aloud once the door is shut. He shuffles the papers into a folder for safe keeping and starts to pull out the passports.

"I can’t tell you that." Mary deflects

"Is there anything you can tell me?" Donald frowns, turning to look at her.

He observes her, hoping to see something in her body language. They were copilots for an entire year, he spent hours every day with her chatting about everything and nothing, and now they stand apart with a ten-year gap between them. 

"I can tell you it’s for your own good and... that I've been meaning to ask you something for a long time now."

"Shoot."

"When Uno came up,” Donald nearly flinches at his friend’s name, “he was hysterical. He kept screaming at us to help you and that you didn’t have any time left.” Mary studies the floor, deliberately not looking at him, “He made it sound like you had already drowned and it may have been the frayed wires but Donald,” She hesitates, “I don't know how long I was out or how long you were down there, but I do know that by all accounts you should have drowned."

Donald looks at a spot over her shoulder as she starts to meet his eyes again. He hopes his face is blank and that the gap between them isn’t just large on his end.

"You mentioned this before when you were in the hospital. You said that you thought I had died. What makes you so nervous about it now?" He carefully prods.

"You said Lugia saved you. Why? For what reason would it have to save a you, a trespasser in its waters?" Mary continued

Donald is silent at that, he needs a response fast. “It’s – “

"Are you Lugia's Chosen?"

The question catches him off guard. It holds multiple implications including the insinuation that not only does Mary Ann known about Chosen, but the military might know too. He meets his old comrade’s gaze. The fire in her eyes hasn’t changed, she’s so much like her younger self despite the long years. 

“Donald, please, I’m still your friend. Trust me.” She urges. 

He closes his eyes and he has to weigh the pros and cons quickly. He can’t forget they’re on a time limit. The whole reason Mary Ann is here might have something to do with Chosen. It would make sense, but why? What could possibly get the government to take his family into protective custody? It could just be Scrooge, his enemies finally catching the eye of the government.

He shakes his head. Whatever Mary’s question suggests, it all boils down to one question: does he still trust her? 

“Let’s pretend, right here and now, that I am. What would that mean?” He’s always been a sentimental fool.

“It means we need to get you out of here as fast as we can.”

…

The family is piled into SUVs that are surrounded by an escort of Pokémon and other vehicles. They’re being taken down to the pier where they’ll (apparently) be picked up by a boat and travel to a Naval ship just off the coast. The vehicle Donald is in holds both himself and his nephews. Gladstone and Scrooge are in the vehicle behind them, and Webby and Beakley are in the vehicle in front of them.

They’re all being debriefed while they travel. Once Donald had all but fessed up to Mary Ann, the agent had kicked her men into a frenzy. The agents all but packed their bags for them and pushed them into their respective vehicles. Donald’s Pokémon had tried to follow, so he dug out their old pokéballs and re-caught them.

“Two nights ago, we intercepted a distress call.” Mary begins from the passenger seat, “Lunala has been captured.”

“Lunala? Isn’t it supposed to be in a different dimension?” Huey asks from Donald’s right. Dewey is on his left and Louie is asleep in his lap. Dewey is close to joining his brother in the land of dreams and Huey doesn’t look like he’s far from doing the same.

“Normally yes. Lunala and Solgaleo are both known for traveling to different dimensions, but someone managed to get their hands on the Moon and Sun flutes, which let them summon Lunala.”

“What does that have to do with us?” Dewey mumbles, tiredly.

“The organization that did it has been under surveillance for a while. We’ve received intel about dangerous operations but until yesterday nothing had been acted upon. One of the operations has to do with Chosen, the organization wants to harness the potential power of a Chosen. The government is taking precautions against this and is gathering individuals highly suspected of being Chosen. As we speak, others are being taken into custody as well. You’ll meet some on the ship before we split you up.”

“I’m not leaving my boys.” Donald declares.

“No, you’re not. We’re keeping family together but having all the suspected Chosen in one spot isn’t a good idea.” Mary assures as they pull into the docks.

The car comes to a stop and they pile out. Donald picks up Dewey after seeing the duckling stumble out of the car. He might have been more awake, excited for the next adventure, if they hadn’t just gotten back from one. Huey marches on and Donald wishes he had three arms, so he could let them all sleep in his arms like they did as babies.

Beakley steps out of her car with Webby clinging to her like a koala, half asleep herself. His Uncle and Cousin step out as well. Gladstone must have fixed his hair in the car, because the hair rollers are gone. Scrooge hasn’t stopped scowling the entire time. 

“This way.” Mary waves and starts walking down the pier to a motor boat. On the horizon, by the light of the moon, Donald can see a warship.

He’s not comfortable letting children on such a vessel, but if it will keep them safe…

Gladstone and Scrooge board first. Gladstone takes Louie and Scrooge takes Dewey, before Donald helps Huey down. The boat rocks when Donald boards and Mrs. Beakley follows with Webby still on her back. 

Mary Ann takes the wheel and a couple agents board as well. Water and flying type Pokémon surround the boat. It’s silent for most of the trip, the whole family is exhausted with the exception of Beakley who no one has ever seen sleep. Scrooge is doing his best to stay awake, his nephews all asleep around him and Donald would be close to joining them if it weren’t for his paranoia. 

Upon arriving at the ship, the kids and Gladstone have to be shaken awake to climb the metal ladder. They’re escorted to some cabins. Donald and his boys have one, Scrooge and Gladstone get another, and Beakley and Webby take a room across from the others.

“You will sleep here. Some others will be here soon, but they won’t be here for long.” Mary states.

“Alright, thanks Mary.” Donald says and disappears into the room with his boys. The triplets all collapse on the same bunk and go right back to sleep. Donald lays down across from them and drifts off soon enough.

…

It’s dark and cold at the bottom of the ocean. The sun’s rays can’t reach this deep and the water is still as if, in order to make up for the cold, it’s embracing the inhabitants in a gentle hug. Those who dwell this far down have no use for light, they have spent a long time in the darkness and can find their way around just fine without even a spark. 

Lugia is one such inhabitant. It makes itself comfortable far from any other living creature, deep in the heart of the seas it’s meant to protect. Still, it is never truly alone. Lugia’s psychic powers are strong and small mental links connect it to it’s loved ones. Ho-Oh and Lugia used to talk all the time with it, relishing the bond between them. As time passed, however, their link faded. Lugia and Ho-Oh’s connection nearly shattered after the fight over their bonded. Lugia was upset that Ho-Oh would bond with one so young, Ho-Oh felt rejected and lashed back. It was a nasty fight on both ends. Nowadays Lugia can only confirm that Ho-Oh is still alive and nothing more. 

The bond is stronger with it’s children and nephews. The beasts and birds can call on him wherever they are. The connection is especially sensitive to fights between the three divine Pokémon. Lugia was tasked with breaking up the legendary birds’ fights afterall. The bond between Lugia and the six that it considers its family is stronger than Ho-Oh’s but weaker than Donald’s. 

Donald is in Lugia’s mind; the Guardian can feel his emotions, his hopes, and his dreams. Donald too can feel Lugia as all bonded can, though the minor deity can keep the mortal from more intense emotions lest it overwhelm him. Lugia has missed the companionship of a Chosen and the link between Lugia and Donald is easily one of the strongest it’s ever had. Silver soul, indeed. 

Unfortunately, this makes it harder to block certain feelings from him. Which means that when the bond between Lugia and the birds vanishes, Donald feels it all. 

…

His children are gone, gone, gone. Where are they? Who took them? He was going to smite the creatures that dared. The world would drown before anything happened to his young. He would make sure of it. Where? Where? Where? He can’t find them. He can’t feel them anymore. Someone is blocking them, or they could be dead. Death was impossible. Death was not an option. Someone took them.

Someone. Took. Them.

…

Mary Ann is going over the list of personnel with the Quartermaster when Communications Officer Bradley runs in. “Sir!” He salutes hastily. He’s out of breath and frenzied when he starts, “Our contact-“

He’s cut off when an earthshattering roar overtakes the whole ship. It’s inhuman, filled with an overwhelming rage, and it scares her when she recognizes the unmistakable voice behind it.

“It’s Lugia sir, it’s upset!” Bradley rushes when the sound dies, and Mary Ann bolts out of the room with the officer hot on her heel.

“Why?” She demands.

“We just got word from our contact that the birds were captured. It has to be a trap, sir! They’re trying to draw Lugia out!” He explains.

“Where are they?!” Donald roars when the officers enter the side of the ship with the living quarters. The duck has his cousin in a vice grip by the lapels of his shirt. The cabin doors are open, the other civilians peeking out to see what’s happening. McDuck is blocking one of the cabins, trying to keep the children away, but the three ducklings are peering around him and nearly falling over from their curiosity. Vanderquack is blocking her own cabin with the little girl. 

“I don’t know Lugia! You have to calm down!”

“Then what use are you?! Get out of my way Jirachi and go back to your sleep!” Donald shoves his cousin back and the duck barely catches himself from falling over. 

“What is going on here?” Mary demands.

Donald meets her eyes and she has to stifle a gasp at the sheer amount of hatred that is alight in his – his eyes are silver. That’s not Donald. 

He advances on her, his mouth pulled back in a snarl and he marches with deadly intent. 

“Miss, get out of his way!” the cousin instructs. 

She stands her ground and braces herself. It’s hard to meet such intense eyes and she has to focus on his forehead instead. The officer behind her is shaking in his boots.

“Darkrai.” Donald growls and he’s not looking at her. She spins around to see Drake Mallard in the middle of the hallway.

He’s different too.

SHUSH had told them that he was at the top of their list for most likely to be a Chosen. They never specified why. She had been skeptical, meeting the well-mannered single father. She shouldn’t have doubted them. 

His eyes are a ghostly blue and the lights around him flicker.

“It is a trap and you know it.” Mallard states, arms crossed. 

“I do not care.” Donald retorts

“You should.” 

“Are you going to get in my way?” Her friend threatens

“Do you not care for your Chosen? Or his family?” Mallard dismisses the threat 

“What do they have to do with-“ 

“Where do you think you are?” Mallard interrupts, eyes narrowing. Donald goes to reply, just about to snarl an answer when he stops. He looks around. 

His eyes are softer when they look back at Mallard. His body relaxes a fraction, fists loosening. The anger is still there, just simmering below the surface. “Where are my young, Darkrai?”

“I do not know.” Mallard admits. Donald looks at the ground and clenches his fist again.

“We will find them.” The taller duck promises.

“We had better.” 

Mary Ann feels a twinge of fear at the words. What would happen if they didn’t manage to get the birds back? It sounded like Lugia was prepared to do something drastic if they didn’t.

“Um, is everything okay?” A voice pipes up behind Mallard. It’s Crackshell-Cabrera. 

“Victini?” Donald raises an eyebrow. His eyes are fading back to its natural color, “When did you get here?” 

“Victini?!” Mallard repeats unbelieving, returning to normal as well.

“Fenton?!” The kids shout at the same time. 

McDuck’s jaw is on the floor.

“Fenton!” McQuack cheers from Mallard’s cabin.

“Hi guys!” Crackshell waves happily. 

“Wait a minute, Launchpad?” The blue duckling exclaims, seeing the large duck peeking out of Mallard’s room with a little girl.

“Launchpad?!” the other ducklings echo.

Confused and excited shouting bounces off the metal walls of the living quarters. Mary Ann had not anticipated all the possible Chosen’s recognizing each other. She would have warned them all before they got to the ship. The hall has devolved into chaos and she can feel a headache coming on. She’s about to step in when McDuck does it for her.

“Everybody quiet!” McDuck rams his cane into the ground and silence falls. “What on earth is going on?!”

…

They’re herded into a conference room.

Donald is silent the entire time. His nephews are talking with the others and occasionally glancing back at him nervously. They’re scared of him. They know he’d never hurt them, but they have no idea what to expect from Lugia.

He doesn’t remember much, just the desperate need to find his children. He’d been a puppet on strings, unable to do anything against his Chooser’s power. That’s never happened before.

Someone touches his shoulder and he flinches, inhaling sharply. It’s Uncle Scrooge. He waits for some kind of rebuttal, but the older duck just has him take a seat between him and Gladstone. The table is a long oval and the kids are all seated together. Darkrai’s Chosen sits at the end of the table closest to Mary Ann, his daughter next to him. Launchpad sits across from Mary Ann and sandwiches the kids between himself and Darkrai’s Chosen. Mrs. Beakley is next to the pilot, chatting with Fenton’s M’Ma. Scrooge is next to Fenton who is next to his M’ma and talking with the children. Gladstone is seated next to Mary Ann, across from Darkrai’s Chosen. 

“Okay. I want to know right here, right now. Who among you are Chosen?” Mary Ann asks at the front of the room. 

Gladstone raises his hand first, “Jirachi.”

Donald follows his lead, Mary already knows anyway, “Lugia.”

“Heatran.” Uncle Scrooge grumbles.

“Victini.” Fenton smiles.

“One of the legendary beasts!” Dewey hops up in his chair and throws his arm up. His brothers and Webby give him weird looks. “Technically speaking, we aren’t Chosen yet.” Huey rebuts. 

“Awww” Dewey puts his arm down.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. What is he talking about?” Mary Ann glares at Donald and points at Dewey.

“I don’t know Mary.” He shrugs innocently.

“We talked about this.” Mary hisses and Donald recalls their conversation on the houseboat. 

Trust me.

‘Not with them.’ He decides.

“They’re not Chosen.” He holds her gaze. 

She doesn’t believe him, “Fine.” She turns to the duck on her right, “And you’re Darkrai’s Chosen.”

The duck nods, hesitantly. 

“Good.” Mary types something into her phone, “You were all debriefed on the way here. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask.”

“Who is this puny fellow?” Scrooge starts, pointing at Darkrai’s Chosen. Mary Ann gives Donald a disappointed look. 

“What?” Donald whispers at her, as if the whole room can’t hear him, “I can’t control him.”

“That’s my friend Mr. McDee!” Launchpad answers, grinning.

“Your friend?” Scrooge gives the duck a scrutinizing look.

Launchpad’s friend clears his throat, “Drake Mallard, Mr. McDuck. This is my daughter Gosalyn.”

Scrooge gives a disapproving “hnn” in response.

“He’s like that with everyone.” Webby whispers into Gosalyn’s ear. 

“I heard that!”

“I have a question.” Fenton’s M’ma scowls at Donald, “Why did you go completely looney earlier?”

The reminder of earlier events kills the slight humor in the air. Donald sinks in his chair a bit, ashamed of what happened. 

“The Legendary Birds are gone.” He mutters, “Lugia is very protective of it’s young so when it discovered they were gone it…y’know…”

“Were they captured too?” Gosalyn ponders. 

Lugia’s attention has been caught. ‘Lugia…’ Donald warns, but he can’t do much as it pushes itself forward to hear the conversation better. 

“Yes.” Mary Ann clarifies, “We got word from our contact that they were taken this morning.”

“Taken by who? That organization you were telling us about?” Drake interrogates. 

Mary Ann nods. Lugia nearly takes control. It holds off, either from Donald’s own desire to not frighten his kids again or from its own self-control.

“Who are they, Mary?”

“Team Rainbow Rocket. They’re composed of the biggest organizations in every region.” Mary says, “I’m sure you’ve seen them on T.V. recently, making a stir.” 

He listens intently. Mary pauses, uncharacteristically hesitant, and gives him a sad look, “Team Aqua is part of the group.”

Lugia seizes control. Its children are the hands of those despicable creatures. Unacceptable. 

“Where are they?” He asks with an even tone.

“We’ve got intelligence that they’re somewhere in the Alola region. One of our strongest groups was sent to intercept their capture of Lunala, but we haven’t heard from them since. It’s likely that even if their base isn’t there. Most of the leaders are.”

Lugia leaves and pulls Donald with it. They’re flying over open water at insane speeds. Wind whips by them and the sun warms their skin. It might have been exhilarating if their minds weren’t clouded by red. A bright light consumes them and suddenly they’re over the Alolan islands. 

Hundreds of miles away, a group of thirteen became a group of twelve. 

Sharp eyes immediately pick out a castle in between the four islands.

“There they are.”


	7. Infiltration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People are not where they should be.

The light fades to reveal an empty chair. Through the dark spots in her vision, Mary can tell that Donald is gone. 

Her mouth is moving, but nothing comes out. Her friend has vanished into thin air with only a brief flash of light. The whole room sits in stunned silence before individuals explode out of their seats. Chairs are pushed back or knocked over by the more excited ducks. Mrs. Cabrera is the only one still sitting. 

“Uncle Donald?!” Huey cries, dismayed. He gets out of his chair and runs over to McDuck. 

“Where did he go?!” Dewey panics and follows his brother. 

“He teleported!” The cousin explains with a shout.

“Where?” McDuck demands.

“We were talking about the location of Team Rainbow Rocket, Lugia must have heard it.” Mallard comes around the table to get a better look at the spot Donald had previously occupied. His daughter follows. 

“You think he’s in the Alola region, Dad?” The smaller Mallard asks.

“It’s very likely.” 

Mary Ann absorbs the information and strides over to the door, “Bradley!”

“Yes, Sir?” The officer jumps to attention. The monkey had been left to stand guard outside in case he was needed to help explain something to the ducks in protective custody.

“I want you to notify our contact, tell them that Lugia’s Chosen is on his way or is already there. Then contact the other ships and let them know what’s happened.”

“Yes, sir!” The monkey darts away and Mary Ann shuts the door and locks it. 

Mallard and Beakley are watching her while the rest fret over an empty chair.

“We have to get him back!” Louie is latched onto his brothers. A pokemon - Pansage - lets itself out of its pokéball and holds onto his sweater.

“Can you do anything DW?” McQuack whispers loudly at Mallard.

“Fenton do something!” Dewey shakes Crackshell-Cabrera.

“I agree, do something Cabrera.” McDuck orders.

“Sure Mr. McDuck, but I can’t fly for very long with the suit…” The duck worries.

“Fenton-!” Webby hisses in warning, glancing around the room 

“I can teleport us there.” The cousin rushes, “Jirachi is awake now, we can-”

“I want to get something straight.” Mary interrupts, demanding the attention of everyone in the room. Her voice is hard and unyielding, she’s just watched her copilot use a Pokémon move. Little was known about Chosens and right now there are too many unanswered questions. “Who are you?”

“Lady we literally just told you. Like, last night.” Gosalyn frowns

“No, you told me your names and you told me your Choosers. I want to know who you are.” She points at Mallard and Crackshell-Cabrera.

“Er…”

“I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, stuff it. He-” She jabs a finger at McQuack. “-keeps calling you ‘DW’ and you-” she whirls on Cabrera, “-are talking about a suit.”

“I think she’s got you dad.” Gosalyn whispers.

“She’s got nothing.” Mallard huffs, crossing his arms and turning away. “So, LP keeps calling me DW, it could mean anything.”

Mary gives him a deadly glare and starts deducing, “The list of people we were sent to pick up are all famous one way or another. Donald Duck is a war hero and one of the strongest trainers in the world, Scrooge McDuck is famous adventurer, billionaire, and the strongest Normal type trainer in the world, Gladstone Gander is the luckiest duck in the world, Bentina Beakley is a world-renowned spy.” Mary can’t help her aggressive stance and sharp gestures towards the ducks she names, “So, I’m sure you can imagine my skepticism when I got two people I’d never heard of before.” Mallard and Cabrera are sweating. She keeps pressing, “‘DW’? Talk about a flying suit? Do you think I’m a moron?”

“Busteeed.” Dewey crows, helpfully.

“You’re Darkwing Duck?” McDuck follows her logic and scrutinizes Mallard.

“Cat’s out of the bag Drakeroni.” Fenton grins sheepishly, “You got us Miss. I’m Gizmoduck.”

Mallard sighs disappointedly, whether in himself or his cohorts she’s not sure, “Yes, fine, I’m Darkwing Duck.”

“Fenton? You’re Gizmoduck?” Gosalyn runs over to the brown feathered duck.

“Sure am Gossie!” He ruffles her head feathers.

“How do you guys know each other?” Huey asks.

“I teamed up with DW when I was helping the government keep one of their fancy planes out of Steelbeak’s hands.”

“I work alone! Hang on…” Mallard ponders and exclaims, “Fenton is Gizmoduck?!” He turns to McQuack accusingly.

“Sorry, I thought you knew.” Fenton shrugs.

“How could I possibly - I mean…of course I knew it was you.” Mallard composes himself. 

“How did you know about DW, Fenton?” McQuack asks.

“I can see who’s Chosen. Does this mean you can’t?” He blinks

“Now that Jirachi is awake I can see who’s Chosen.” Gander offers, “I think it’s something about Psychic types.”

“Like Uncle Donald?” Webby cocks her head to the side curiously.

“Yeah, I guess Lugia is psychic type too. He must have known about Drake and I if he saw us on T.V., I wonder why he didn’t say anything?” Fenton wonders

“Oh my god, everyone shut up!” Louie yells. He looks distraught, “How can you talk about this stuff? Uncle Donald is gone!”

“He’s not dead Louie…” Dewey tries to soothe

“He could be! For all we know they’ve already caught him and, and-!” The ducklings’ moods plummet, unshed tears starting to form in their eyes. The adults share worried looks.

“Louie, lad…” McDuck starts to step in.

“Don’t say that!” Huey yells at his green-clad brother, stopping McDuck’s movements from the force of his shout.

“Well what do you want me to say? You want me to sit around and play meet-and-greet like you? Do you even care?” Louie bawled.

Huey looks like someone tore his heart out and stomped on it. His face twists into one of despair and his hands come up to cover his mouth in horror. Louie realizes his mistake immediately, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

Dewey grabs his brothers and pulls them into a hug. The boys start crying against one another. 

“You underestimate your Uncle, kid.” Mary says. The adults hover awkwardly around the trio, Webby wraps her arms around them comfortingly. Gosalyn is in her father’s arms and looking at them sympathetically. At Mary’s words, the boys give her their attention.

“He’s a survivor, y’know? I’ve never meet anyone more stubborn than him…or braver.” Her scar flashes through her mind. He was always a cautious one.” Mary reminisces, “But when it counted he threw caution straight into the wind.” She looks Louie straight in the eyes when she says, “He’s a good friend, kid. I owe him my life. We’re going to get him back.”

…

The message comes in as he’s about to pull the switch.

‘Warning: Lugia has a high probability of arriving at your location with its Chosen.’

He processes the information and rethinks his plan. The lone figure lets go of the lever to the fuse box and starts making his way to the cells. Lugia would serve as a much better distraction. 

…

The sun shines bright in the Alola region, a sharp contrast to the stormy mood Lugia is in. The instant it’s eyes locate the castle it attacks. Yellow beams cut through the air and into the side of the dark castle with a ‘Boom!’. Dust flies out as part of the building collapses. 

Unsatisfied, Lugia charges another blast. It glides around the offending building and aims directly at the banners on the front gate. The attack burns through the rainbow ‘R’s and the entrance is forced open, its metallic doors forced off their hinges. The colored glass windows shatter from the force of the blow and dark red bricks fall into broken piles on the ground. More dust whips around them and the mortal on it’s back has to close its eyes from the sting. 

Lugia summons its might again, circling the stronghold, and determined to bring the place down. War cries sound in the distance and the Chosen looks for the noise. Aerial Pokémon of all types fly out of the hole Lugia created in the side of the castle, forming a colorful and deadly swarm. Trainers shout orders from inside the castle and Lugia changes its target. 

Few flying types make it out unscathed, the attacks forcing their way through the center of the cluster. Lugia roars and a blue aura forms around it. The guardian’s eyes shine as the aura wraps around it and takes the shape of a dragon. Lugia beats it’s wings once and rushes the Pokémon that escaped its blasts. 

They don’t stand a chance. 

With the pokemon called back to their trainers, Lugia is free to set its sights on the castle once more. The aura reforms and this time Lugia uses Dragon Rush on the castle. It aims straight for the trainers standing in the rubble of its first attack. 

‘No!’

Donald’s conscious throws itself at Lugia and the legendary loses focus for a brief moment. The attack dissipates, and the trainers move out of the way before Lugia hurdles through the opening and breaks through the floor. 

Lugia picks itself up, it’s blazing blue eyes taking in the research lab on the bottom floor. Mortals in white coats run around each other, trying to escape its wrath. Lugia spots Lunala in the hands of a dog and sees the birds on its belt.

Lugia snarls and blasts the mortal with hydropump. The pest releases Lunala and the Moon pokemon shields the damned blight from the attack. The ingrate smirks at Lugia and releases the birds. The guardian reaches out to reestablish their mental link, but something is wrong. Their minds have changed. Nothing is there, only a desire to do as their master commands.

Lugia recoils in horror.

The Birds attack at the pest’s command and Lugia, for a moment, cannot find the will to fight back. Its children are gone. Moltres hits it with a fiery blast and Lugia cries out in pain. The three are ruthless in their assault.

Lugia reaches for the link it holds with the Beasts and gives them a warning before throwing up a shield to protect itself. The Guardian is pinned, but it has not lost just yet. 

…

The rumbling stops, finally. 

Mickey goes back to picking the locks. Minnie waits patiently on the other side, her legs crossed, and her hands folded on her lap. Daisy huffs next to her, “Come on Mickey, how long is this going to take?”

“Almost got it!” He assures.

The cells are dark, making it hard to see while he picked his own lock. Now that his eyes have adjusted, the girls’ lock is much easier. 

After his fight with Giovanni, Mickey had blacked out and woke to find his fellow Champions locked in the cell across from him. No one had come by to check on them since they all first woke up and Mickey didn’t want to wait around until someone eventually did. When asked, Minnie had graciously tossed him a hairpin, so he could pick their locks. Only the three of them are present along with special agent Looker who had been in Mickey’s cell. He was standing watch by the door, listening intently for anything that might suggests the arrival of unwanted company.

The lock clicks, signaling his success, and Mickey grabs the smooth bars on the door. The cell door opens without so much as a squeak. 

Daisy and Minnie are no worse for wear when they step out, but the Champions have been in the same clothes since the battle last night. Well, they assume it was last night. The cells have few windows and what they can see only reveals the soft blue of the ocean. They have no idea where they are and they’re all covered in scrapes and bruises. Mickey is grateful the cells are clean, or they might have had to worry more about infections. 

Minnie fixes her red and white battle skirt while Daisy brushes invisible dust off of her pink jacket. Mickey self consciously straightens out his shirt.

“Champions.” Looker hisses from his post by the door, “I hear something.”

Daisy pulls off one of her heels, “Move, I’ve got this.”

They pile behind the door, ready to pummel whoever comes in. Mickey feels lost without his Pokémon. None of the champions had their pokéballs on their belts when they woke. For now, fists and heels will have to do.

On the other side of the door, Mickey can hear clanging, as if there are more cells on the other side.

The door knob turns and Daisy brings her heel back, ready to land a knockout blow. A white head emerges and she swings. Her swipe is dodged as the intruder ducks beneath her attack. 

“Oh, good you’re already out.” The duck says, “We haven’t much time, the others are waiting.”

“We’re not going anywhere with you Rocket Scum!” Daisy shouts and brings her shoe back again, for another swipe.

“Peace, peace! I come in peace!” The duck throws his hands up in fear.

“Daisy!” Minnie scolds, “That’s not nice! You should treat your shoe better!”

“Are you, perhaps, our man on the inside?” Looker interrupts the exchange. 

“Yes, I’m Odin Eidolon.” The duck introduces himself, keeping his hands in the air. He doesn’t look like much. He’s thin for a duck and his spine is straight rather than curved like Daisy’s. He only stands a couple inches taller than her. 

“You’re the contact?” Mickey pipes up.

“Nice to meet you Champions Mickey, Daisy, and Minnie. Agent Looker.” Odin smiles, putting his hands down slowly, “We need to hurry. I’ve already released your allies and I need to take you to your pokemon.” He waves them out and the crowd just outside the door cheers when they emerge. Mickey feels a pang of guilt that Team Rocket took everyone on the assault team as prisoners. He should have beaten Giovanni.

“Is this everybody?” Agent Looker asks, looking over the crowd. There are three trainers from each region, some of the best in their respective lands. Along with the Champions and Looker, the group makes up the task force sent to intercept Giovanni. They’re all hanging out in the hallway and a couple step forward to greet the Champions happily. Minnie hugs some girls from the Hoenn region.

“Yes, you were the only four missing from the group. We had to conduct a bit of a search to find you during the commotion.”

Right, the rumbling, “What was all that ruckus anyway?” 

“Lugia.” Odin replies, ushering them forward, “Let’s walk and talk, time is short.”

“Lugia?” Minnie brings her attention from her friends over to Odin. He leads them down the hallway towards an enormous pillar. The floor isn’t big, she notices, there are only about a dozen doors on either side of the single hallway. A couple doors are open, revealing the jail cells inside. The champions and Looker had been kept at the far end of the floor, which left a straight shot to the pillar. A part of Minnie shudders at the horribly small and overly simple layout.

“Recently, Team Plasma captured the Legendary Birds and Lugia evidently did not take it well. That rumbling was the shockwaves of its attacks. Team Rocket must have beat it or this whole place would be in shambles.” Odin elaborates, ushering the group towards the second door from the pillar, “Your Pokémon are in here and there should be a healing station in there as well.”

The room is no bigger than a supply closet and just as white and shiny as the rest of the building. The trainers’ pokéballs line the wall on little shelves. As Odin said, there was a single healing station on the right. 

“One at a time!” Mickey says, and Daisy pulls out the healing station to free up the closet. Minnie starts calling out Pokémon. Trainers raise their hands when their team is listed off and line up for the station.

“What else can you tell us?” Looker keeps his attention on Odin. The two stand out of the way of the trainers. 

“We are currently at Team Rainbow Rocket’s headquarters, on the third basement level. I’ve alerted the military to our whereabouts and they starting to mount an assault. Our objective as of twenty minutes ago is to free the Legendary beasts.”

“Alright, how do we do that?”

“Giovanni is using a different kind of pokéball than the ones you see on the market to capture the Legendaries. If a Pokémon is captured by it, it is brainwashed into following the trainer’s orders. What we need to do is either break the pokéballs or sneak these chips onto the bottom halves.” Odin reaches into his pocket to pull out tiny green chips with little wires sticking out. There are five in total and they’re very tiny.

“Where did you get these?”

“They’re a design of my own creation.”

Looker nods. 

“Alright Agent, what’s the plan?” Mickey asks, the task force behind him waiting and ready to go. Some Pokémon have been let out for joyous reunions. The hallway is a bit more crowded than before. 

“What are we looking at Odin?” 

“We can’t rely on the military.” Odin admits, “With Lugia’s attack, Giovanni called back the other team leaders. No one saw it coming and now the Castle is weak literally and figuratively. They’re going to have their hands full.”

“So, we’re on our own?” Daisy asks. 

Odin nods, frowning “We need to free the beasts by ourselves, however there might be a slight hitch.”

“What?” Minnie asks.

“I was informed that Lugia’s Chosen might have come with it when it arrived. We need to find out what happened to them.”

…

Donald is not happy.

‘This is your fault.’ He grumbles at Lugia. 

His Chooser doesn’t disagree, and Donald feels his mood sour even more. He’s crawling through the vents of the castle to who-knows-where, his boys are miles away, and he’s starting to get claustrophobic.

He had fallen off Lugia when the Guardian had crashed into the floor. Tramper was accidentally let out of its ball when he landed on it wrong and it was the little white Pokémon that had spotted the broken vent while Donald was writhing on the ground and clutching what would definitely develop into a bruise later. The Togetic had proceeded to repeatedly throw itself against him until he got up. It guided him up a pile of rubble and into the ventilation shaft that was, fortunately, just big enough for a duck of his size. 

He’s been crawling behind Tramper for a while without even a smidgeon of an opportunity for either of them to leave their hiding spot. Rocket Grunts are running around like mad and the hallways and rooms aren’t empty for long. To make matters worse, the vents that go up or down are too small for him to fit through. His only option is the elevator shaft. He hadn’t stayed in that area long, wanting to try to find a different, safer path. He isn’t about to risk being squished if it ascends to the upper level and there are no ventilation units for him to get out. But with how limited he’s found his options to be, he might just have to risk it. 

From where he is now, he can look down into a small lab with a table in the center, some bookcases nearby, and a computer in a corner of the room. At the far end, three pokéballs are sat side by side on a small counter. The darkly colored balls are a stark contrast to the white color scheme. Just as Donald is beginning to think that it might be safe to leave, another grunt enters the room and starts working on the computer. He groans and has to physically restrain himself from slamming his head on the steel panel in front of him. His Togetic rubs its soft fur against his side in a vain attempt at comfort. 

‘Would you have acted any differently if it had been your children?’ Lugia interrupts Donald’s pity party.

Donald huffs and slumps against the bottom of the vent, ‘No.’ he admits, scratching Tramper’s spiked head.

It’s odd having such a normal conversation with his Chooser. They’ve been bonded for over a decade and only now does he speak to Lugia as if it isn’t a god. 

His Chooser has always scared him. The shattered remains of the Team Aqua ship haunt him when he has bad days and with the stunt Lugia pulled earlier in front of the boys, he can’t help but wonder if maybe Uncle Scrooge had a point about the dangers of being a Chosen.

Lugia growls in the back of his mind and Donald is pulled into the guardian’s head. Lugia’s vision is filled with the purple of the shield. The birds hover around it, poised to attack the second Lugia stops using Protect. The guardian is more focused on a dog that is talking to Lunala.

“Is it bonded?” He demands and scowls when Lunala responds with silence, “Lunala, I demand to know if it is bonded!”

‘It cannot sense our bond through the shield.’ Lugia explains, watching the dog grow increasingly frustrated.

Donald feels his gut twist when he remembers what Mary told him. What will happen to him if they discover the bond? Experiments? Death? He can feel Lugia’s wounds from the battle manifesting as a dull ache, what will more severe wounds feel like?

‘We need to get out of here.’ He panics. Tramper pats his face when it sees him pale. 

There’s no doubt in his mind that he and Lugia are on their own. Not once does it occur to him that his family might come get him. 

‘I am not leaving without the birds.’

Donald yells, ‘And how do you propose we do that? I’m stuck in a steel death trap and the only thing between you and an absurd amount of pain is a purple bubble!’ ‘As long as the shield is up we are safe.’ Lugia states calmly

‘You call this safe?’ Donald screeches. He has half a mind to strangle his Chooser.

‘Donald, you must calm yourself.’

‘I don’t have to do anything! You got us into this mess, you get us out!’ Donald moves back into his own body and sulks. 

He’s so focused on being mad, he doesn’t realize the Grunt has left. Nor does he realize Tramper is about to burst out of the vent before it’s too late. 

He throws his arm out and catches the grate before it can fall to the floor. “Tramper!” He whispers, “Get back here, it’s too dangerous!”

Tramper coos at him and picks up the strange pokéballs, balancing the three precariously between its thin little arms. The Pokémon flies back over to the vent and Donald pulls the grate back on just as another Grunt enters.

“Huh? That’s odd, I could have sworn they were just here. I bet that electrician moved them again, the creepy bastard.” The Grunt mutters, walking back out.

“Are you crazy?” Donald scolds, “Why would you do that? You could have been seen!” 

Tramper drops the balls on top of him and flits away with a trill.

“Well if you didn’t want them, why did you grab them?” Donald grumbles. Tramper trills at him again and flies back over to him. It pats the balls and makes a sad noise then pats Donald’s beak and makes a happy noise. The action was similar to what Aqua did when he first took in Agua. 

“You want me to take care of them?” Donald asked, incredulous, “They’re just pokéballs.”

Tramper makes a joyous cry and flies in circles. 

“Ugh, fine.” Donald rolls his eyes, fighting off a smile. “All that for a couple of spooky balls.” He frowns, mumbling, “I wonder what kind they are.”

Tramper flies away in the direction of the enormous elevator, “Slow down, Tramper, not all of us can fly!”

He shoves the balls in his pack, with the rest of his Pokémon items and crawls after the excited Pokémon. A mechanical noise echoes down the vent from the direction of the elevator shaft.

“Here’s hoping it’s going down.”

…

“How are we going to do this?” Gladstone asks the group. 

Uncle Scrooge, Fenton, Drake, and Mary Ann are gathered in the captain’s quarters. They’re huddled around a small table, trying to figure out how to save Donald.

“We? I can do this by myself.” Drake declares, “I work alone.”

“You will do no such thing.” Mary Ann shuts him down, “My orders are to keep you all safe. We go together or not at all.”

“What about the kids?” Fenton asks

“The lad is right, I’ll nae be taking the wee ones intae a war zone.” Scrooge agrees.

“We can’t exactly leave them behind.” Mary notes

“They’ll be fine as long they stick with me, Unk.”

“I am not trusting any of my children with that accursed luck of yers.” Scrooge dismisses, “Yer luck is…impressive…” The billionaire makes a face, as if the word wasn’t what he was looking for but was physically painful to say anyway, “but I’ll nae trust it with any of ye on the battlefield.” 

“So, what do we do?” Fenton asks, defeated. 

The room descends into silence.

…

“They’re definitely planning on leaving us behind.” Louie says to the group. 

He’s sitting in Scrooge’s cabin with the other ducklings. Their Pokémon are out of their balls and curled up with the brothers on the bed while Webby paces in front of them with her own Pokémon dutifully following. 

“We can’t let them!” Dewey declares, rubbing Huey’s back.

“There’s no way we’ll be able to convince them.” Huey mumbles, his head in his hands. 

“What if we don’t?” Webby suggests, stopping in her tracks, “What if we go by ourselves?”

“How?” Louie asks, “It’s not like we can just steal a life boat and row ourselves the whole way there.” He frowns when he sees Huey and Dewey seriously contemplate the idea. 

“I might have a solution.” A voice says from the door. 

The ducklings look over and see Gosalyn Mallard, “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear your little dilemma.” She says, leaning against the door frame and not sounding sorry at all.

The ducklings share a look. 

“How?” Louie repeats

“Well, from what I’ve heard, that Gladstone guy is the only one who wants you to tag along.”

“You were able to spy on them?” Huey asks

“Without Granny stopping you?” Webby doesn’t look convinced.

“Nah, I put a bug on dad.” Gosalyn pulls out an ear piece.

“Whoa…” Webby’s eyes widen in admiration.

“Okay, but what does Uncle Gladstone have to do with this?” Dewey questions

“Jirachi is a psychic type, just like Lugia. If your dad can teleport…” Gosalyn trails off

“Then so can Gladstone!” Huey finishes, excited.

…

“What’s that noise?” Minnie’s ears twitch as a mechanical whirring reaches them. The team looks up from their planning in the middle of the hallway. 

“It’s the elevator! Everyone hide!” Odin shouts, throwing on a cap and turning his jacket inside out to reveal a Rocket Technician’s uniform.

The group piles into the storage closet, quickly putting their Pokémon back in their balls while Odin lets one of his out. 

It’s a very tight fit with all twenty one of them. 

“Your elbow is in my face, Crystal.”

“Then get your face out of my elbow!”

“Quit shoving!” 

“Dios mio.”

“Ow, that’s my hand you-!“

“Be quiet!” Daisy snaps. The noises stop and soon after, a new voice calls for Odin.

“Hey Odin! Did you move the pokéballs again?”

“The balls? No, I haven’t touched them. Why?”

“Boss wants one for Lugia, we’ve got it trapped like a rat.”

Someone makes an angry noise. It’s followed by multiple shushes. 

“Really? You haven’t caught it yet?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, I’m just surprised.”

“Yeah well, we’re lucky the Boss was here to take it down, it’s only a matter of time now. Which reminds me, have you seen the balls anywhere?”

Someone hits something metallic, maybe a vent from the reverberation, and hisses in pain. “Do none of you know the meaning of quiet!” Daisy snarls in a hushed voice, promising pain to the next person that makes a noise.

“No, last I saw they were still in Lab B when I was fixing the computer. That thing is a piece of junk, you need to toss it.”

“That computer is state of the art!”

“Daisy?” Someone asks, as if they had no idea she was in there with them.

She’s about to elbow the person, too angry to recognize the unique voice when Mickey responds, “Donald?”

“Mickey?”

“Donald!” Minnie whispers, surprised.

“Minnie?”

“How did you get here?” Daisy glares in the direction of his voice, craning her neck upwards.

“How did you get here?” Donald throws back.

“Nevermind that, is there any room up there? My arm is falling asleep!” Hau from the Alola region whines. 

“Is someone in the closet?” the grunt asks loudly and very close to the door, reminding the group about their situation. 

“I can’t reach my shoe.” Daisy bemoans, drowning out whatever Odin says 

“It’s too packed, I don’t think any of us have a good shot!” Looker notes worriedly.

The door knob turns, “Wait, Tramper don’t-!”

The Grunt opens the door and gets a face full of a battle ready Togetic. At the same time a Porygon-Z rams into the back of his knees. Odin hits the Grunt on the neck while he’s distracted, and the tiger falls limply to the floor.

The task force falls out of the closet in a mess of limbs.

“Are you all completely incapable of laying low?” Odin asks.

“We’re a battle squad not a ninja unit.” Fernando from the Sinnoh region wheezes beneath the pile.

“They have those?” Tia from the Kanto region asks

“Tramper, you are in so much trouble!” Donald shouts from the vent he’s in the middle of climbing out of and catching the attention of the group in the hallway. Porygon-Z darts over with Tramper when he misses a step and falls the rest of the way out. He hits the floor harshly. Odin’s Pokémon makes an elated noise and flies around Donald in circles.

“You look familiar.” Donald says to the pink and blue Pokémon. He points a finger at it and runs his eyes over the group, “Hey who’s-“

He stops when he sees Odin.

“Uno?”

“Donald?”


	8. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's more than one side to every story.

The first thing his optics ever register is his Master. 

Everett Ducklair has grease on his face, bags under his eyes, and a large grin on his face. His coding tells him his Master is tired and there is a 99.899% likelihood that his Master hasn’t gotten the necessary sleep to maintain himself. Despite this, his coding also tells him that the wide eyes and the beaming smile indicate Happiness or Excitement. 

“Hello One. My name is Everett Ducklair, I am your creator.” His master says, and it makes no logical sense for him to introduce himself to One or greet him in such a manner, he is programmed to know these things already.

“Affirmative.” He responds.

“How are your processors?”

“My processors are at full capacity, Master.”

“Good, how are your systems running?”

“Systems online and operating at 56% capacity.”

“Only 56%?” His master raises an eyebrow.

“I have not yet attempted mobility.” One explains. 

Master laughs. “It seems I’ve given you the ability to snark without realizing it.”

One’s processors attempt to make sense of the statement. No, he is not programed to Snark, he is programmed to tell the truth. He is not even sure what Snark is.

The AI moves his arm and leg units so that he’s sitting on the table rather than lying down. He’s already programmed with the proper instructions on how to move his appendages, so he stands and walks with few errors. 

“Perfect.” Ducklair claps his hands together, pleased.

“Affirmative, I am your creation.” One does not understand why his Master thought One would be anything less than perfect. Master is the smartest man in the world and One is his most recent creation. 

Master chuckles, “It seems you got some pride as well. I look forward to seeing what else you have in store for me.”

One does not understand. He is just a computer, he has no surprises. 

…

Everett Ducklair built One so that he could have someone to talk to and he does just that. He bounces ideas off of him and together they build things far beyond their time. Their home is situated just on the outskirts of a large Italian town close enough for them to have access to anything they need, but far enough that people aren’t likely to pry into their business. Still, Ducklair is a well-known man thanks to his flawless security systems and advanced softwares. So, the odd tourist comes knocking every now and again. 

His master might have been world famous, his inventions ranging from advanced pokéballs to lures to potions to pokedexes. Everything he built was a thousand times more advanced than anything a competitor might have tried to wrangle together. There was just one problem: they always turned out deadly.

His pokéballs forced Pokémon to work for their owner, breaking down the creature’s mentality until it had no will of its own. His potions turned into poisons, his pokedexes started to scan people as well as Pokémon, offering up information that could be used as blackmail, and his lures were downright hallucinogens for the poor Pokémon caught in its scent. 

His master destroyed his creations more often than not. 78.901% of the time his inventions went from helpful to hazardous. Eventually his master couldn’t take it anymore.

“I’m leaving.” He says one day while One is checking the various household computers.

“Where?” One asks, his programming was adjusted not long after he was first ‘woken’ to allow him to ask questions.

“To a temple in the north.”

“When will you be back?”

“I don’t know.”

One is silent as he contemplates what his master’s absence means for him. 

“Are you worried?”

“I’m an Artificial Intelligence I do not feel worry.”

Ducklair chuckles, “Well, since you’re not worried then I guess you won’t be excited to know that I’ve…acquired documents for you.”

One turns from his task, unplugging himself from the house’s mainframe to look at his Master. 

“Full citizenship for one Uno Eidolon. I was afraid you’d get bored all by yourself, with these you can go wherever you want whenever you want.” He places the documents in One’s hands. His processors struggle to make sense of his master, not for the first time. Biologicals are weird. “…And you’ll have access to my wealth.” Everett adds, “Go see the world One…and make at least one friend.” Ducklair winks at him, picks his pack up, and is gone before One can get his hardware back in order.

Was this a logical course of action? Master Ducklair had multiple dangerous inventions hidden in the house, would it be wise to leave them unattended? Uno shook his head, a biological mannerism he had picked up from his master, no, he couldn’t question Master’s orders. 

He is just a computer.

‘See the world and make one friend.’ He thinks, ‘This should not be difficult.’

He goes back over to his connection to the house in order to reconnect to the internet. See the world, see the world…there! An advertisement for the United Regions Navy reads “See the world” in the fourth bullet point under the subheader: Advantages of Joining. Now all he has to do was enlist.

It takes little time for him to sign up and even less to pack his belongings and leave. He didn’t own many things, Master Ducklair liked for him to be wearing clothes so he had a couple articles, but he saw no need to bring any of them along. As it is, he simply walks out of the house and locks the door behind him.

…

Porygon is his closest companion.

The Pokémon was created in the same lab he was and appears to have developed an affection for him. Master had cheerfully given One custody of the data Pokémon and the creature had yet to leave his side. If he could feel, he might have developed an affection for the Pokémon as well. 

“Hey, why won’t you hold him?” His audio receptors alert him to the question and he brings his optics around to look at the source. 

A duck stands in the middle of the bus isle with his hands on his hips. His eyebrows come together to form a stern look and One’s data banks suggest that the newcomer is upset with him. Odd, One has never met the duck before now, how could he have made him unhappy so fast?

“Well?” The duck gestures to Porygon who has been rubbing against One’s side as it normally does. One has been unable to make sense of it since Porygon was created.

He inputs the duck’s question into his files and compares it to his memory bank. “Porygon wishes to be held?” He asks, although he has already confirmed it to be accurate. He picks up the Pokémon and it lets out a noise that One has come to associate with events that benefit the Pokémon. Porygon is happy.

“How did you know?” He asks the duck, who seats himself next to One. 

“I have a Magikarp who does the same thing. Sorry, I thought you weren’t holding him on purpose.” He replies, rubbing the back of his head and looking less angry. “My name’s Donald.” Donald brings his hand away from the back of his head for a handshake.

“My name is Uno.” They shake hands.

Uno has observed biological behavior many times on the internet, but he has to be sure, “Are we friends now?”

“Huh?” Donald’s face morphs into surprise, then confusion, “Sure?”

Objective complete. 

…

One has to create a new file specifically for Donald not long after they get to boot camp.

His friend easily makes as many friends as he does enemies and his temper is something to behold when he’s pushed far enough. He has never observed a biological quite like Donald, he defies logic often.

Despite how many friends he makes, he never leaves One’s company. Even when others voice their disdain for One and his admittedly robotic mannerisms, Donald does not leave. Rather, he instead drops multiple friendships in favor of One. 

“Why?” He asks, “I understand that people seek out friendships, it would make logical sense for you to leave me for them.”

Donald is silent in the bunk next to him for a beat before he says, “Nah, us weirdos have to stick together.”

“You are not weird.” One states.

Donald snickers, “I know you’re not deaf Uno, you can hear my voice. It’s weird.”

“No, it is simply different. Weird implies that there is something abnormal about you. There is nothing weird about you, besides your never-ending determination to beat me in chess.”

“I’m going to get you one day.”

“Maybe, if we were in a dream of yours.”

In the dark of the night, with his night-vision, One can see Donald’s white and red outline shaking in a field of green, desperately trying not to burst out laughing and wake the others. Something stirs in his abdomen and without his command a smile stretches across his face. It quickly fades and he starts running diagnostics checks. 

Nothing shows up. 

Odd.

He files the information away for later.

…

It happens again after 234 hours. The same friends Donald left for him have trapped One in the Sleeping Quarters. Two ducks, a dog, and a cardinal are standing around his bunk. They gathered as he was changing shoes and he’s only got socks on when the ridicule starts. 

He turns his audio receptors down; the words have no effect on him. He is, after all, an AI and it is likely they are only spouting nonsense to bolster their own self-esteems. Porygon brushes up against his back, alerting his sensors. 

He wonders if Porygon is dismissing their words as well. He senses tiny vibrations and he knows that the Pokémon isn’t. He twists around to soothe his companion when a loud noise breaks through his receptors. His optics barely register the red and white blur that rushes around like a tornado. The four antagonizers are on the floor very fast and their Pokémon are in a pile under a certain Wartortle. 

Porygon sets off his chest sensors and he does his best to soothe his distressed companion. 

He turns his audio back up just in time to catch the last of Donald’s lecture.

“Now get out!” The duck snaps his arm out to point at the door and the four bullies are sent fleeing with their Pokémon in their arms.

“What is wrong with you?!” Donald turns on One, “Letting them say those things to you and Porygon, how can you just-“ Donald makes a frustrated growl, mimes choking something, and stomps his foot.

“You are mad…because I did not defend myself and Porygon?” His friend once again proves to be a strange one.

The resulting angry snarls and grunts the duck makes are lost on Uno who is still trying to figure out why Donald is so angry. The duck storms out, but Captain stays.

He doesn’t see Donald again until they’re lying in their bunks for the night.

“You did not have to fight them.” Uno points out.

“Yes, I did.” 

“Why?”

Because I’m not going to let anyone treat my friends like garbage.”

“They were merely words.” Uno reasons.

“Words hurt.” Donald argues.

“You got punished.” 

“It was worth it.”

One stops petting Porygon as the feeling from ten nights ago comes back. He runs the checks and comes up with nothing again. He doesn’t understand, but it doesn’t hurt and he has no desire to take over the world (Everett had worried that he might for a while due to what became of all his other inventions), so it must not be something imperatively bad. 

He compares files and memory banks and notices some similarities

He adds it to Donald’s file. 

…

When they’re assigned stations, he feels as if there is something wrong with his stomach. His form tenses without his direction and it is much different than the other…incidents (he is not sure what the past anomalies are, but it is very different from this) he feels with Donald and Porygon. He does not return to normal until Donald grins at him and reveals they’ve been put on the same ship.

… 

The anomaly (the good one) returns more and more often over the course of a year. It pops in when he’s playing chess, it creeps in sometimes when he’s having a conversation with Donald, it sneaks up on him when he’s lying on his bunk with his pokemon, and it is no more dangerous than it was before, but the rising frequency is cause for some concern. 

“I think something’s wrong with me.” He says to the only person he thinks can help. They’re on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic, he can’t reach his master out here, so he has to get someone else’s help. 

Donald bends down from the top bunk and puts his hand against Uno’s forehead.

“Hmm, I don’t think you have a fever. Was it something you ate? I told chef he needed to lay off on the chili…” Donald lets himself dangle with only half of him still on his bed.

“I don’t believe it’s physical.” Uno confesses. “It only happens when I am conversing with you or playing chess or lounging about. It makes my face move without me meaning to move it. I don’t know how to describe it, it is as if I have no matters to attend to and I do not wish to be anywhere else.”

Donald is looking at him bewildered, “You mean…happiness?”

Oh.

Is it possible…?

“Uno, are you alright?”

“I…” Uno ponders for a moment, “Yes, I think I’m just fine.”

Happiness. 

‘I look forward to seeing what else you have in store for me.’

How utterly fascinating. 

…

He gets word from Ducklair once. It arrives as a small package in the form of a letter and a pokéball. The letter just says, “Take care of it.” Inside is an Elgyem. There is no other writing on the package, only One’s name and he wonders how his Master got the package to him without any sort of address on it. 

He chalks it up to Biologicals.

Elgyem is shy and proud and it takes some time before it warms up to him. Donald offers tips and suggestions to help, teaching Uno how to coax it out of its metaphorical shell. Donald does not believe himself to be smart and in most areas, he isn’t, but he knows Pokémon better than anyone on the ship. Uno is Happy to have Donald for a friend and he is Happy to have another companion. 

Elgyem is a huge help in keeping Porygon occupied when Nipper is with Donald and Uno is too busy down in the bowls of the ship. The two are fast friends, but he learns quickly that the two are trouble makers if left to their own devices for long. 

The tiny azure Pokémon often believes itself to be the smartest being on the ship and is constantly doing things it sees fit to make the ship run better. It is only thanks to Porygon’s stalling and Nipper frantically throwing itself at Uno that stops the cerebral Pokémon from nearly killing Fangus.

“Why is it so murderous?” Donald asks him, ignoring his protests and poking at Uno’s chest where he took the full brunt of the Zen Headbutt. 

“I suspect that’s why it was sent to me to take care of.” Uno answers.

“Your ribs aren’t broken but that’s going to bruise.” Donald backs off and gives his attention to the Pokémon in the room.

Elgyem is in the corner in time out while Nipper and Porygon are eating treats together on the floor in front of the bunk beds. Uno stands from his seated position on his bunk, “Elgyem.”

The Pokémon looks at him with a sad cry, “You are not to do that again.” 

Donald gives the Pokémon a pat and hands it a treat, “Aww, you were just trying help.”

“Must you spoil it?”

“It had good intentions Uno, just misguided. Besides, I’m pretty sure it was targeting Fangus because it saw him hassling you earlier.”

“Is this true?” he asks Elgyem.

It hugs his leg pitifully and he sighs. Donald laughs at his plight, as if he isn’t also wrapped around the tiny Pokémon’s metaphorical finger. 

…

He learns emotions through his Pokémon and Donald. Most, if not all, of his incidents are intricately connected to the three. Logically, he knows human emotions, but identifying them is a whole other experience. Donald is the one to elaborate. His friend is patient with him and if he has any suspicions about him being an android he does not voice them, nor does he treat him differently due to the oddity of the questions.

A couple are easy to identify.

“I have no reason to, yet I have a strong desire to punch Fangus when he speaks.” He confesses over a game of chess.

“Hatred.” Donald says glancing up from their chess board and crying out when he can’t get himself out of Checkmate.

“I wish to eliminate Chef’s grits whenever I smell it and, though I am aware that it will not hurt me, I have no desire to consume it.” Uno mutters in the dining area.

“Disgust.” Donald moves his own grits around on his plate with a scrunched-up bill, “I don’t think there’s anyone here that would disagree with you.”

Others are harder.

“I am happy when Porygon and Elgyem are with me, but the feeling is stronger when they are out of thier pokéballs. I do not understand. They are with me in both cases, why do I not feel the same when they are by my side as I do when they are seeking my attention?” He is laying in his bunk with the Pokémon beside him well into the night. Porygon and Elgyem have evolved over the course of the past few months while he learns about Emotions. Uno is Sorry to wake his friend up so late, but he is Curious about this. 

“Well…” Donald rubs his eyes and sits up, his Poliwhirl by his pillow, “It’s like when you don’t see someone for awhile you kind of…forget how much you liked hanging out with them until you see them again…I guess when you see Porygon you feel Affection for it and it gets stronger when it does something that shows you that it cares about you as much as you care for it. Sure, you know that logically, but actually seeing it…having proof...it can make a lot of difference.” Donald sounds Sad for some reason and Uno doesn’t fully understand his explanation, but there is time for him to learn.

…

He was wrong. 

He was so very wrong.

If he had known that would be the last conversation he would have with Donald, he would have asked his friend what was wrong. He would have said so many things rather than just leave the conversation there. 

…

The alert is a surprise, enough so that he sees his friend fall from his bunk with Nipper happily throwing itself out after him, likely believing it to be a game. There is just enough time to let his friend know he saw the whole thing when Lyla burst through the door and tells them to hurry up.

There is a fluttering in his chest when they gather their gear. He hasn’t identified it with Donald yet, this is the first time he’s felt it. He isn’t sure what it means but it makes him reach out and grab his friend before they part ways, “Hey, be safe.” 

Donald doesn’t hesitate to respond, “You too.”

He has no desire to let go of his friend’s wrist but they’re both needed elsewhere. He forces his grip to loosen and Donald is gone.

He spends much of the attack trying to patch up holes in the hull with Porygon2’s help. Then the hull is gone, blown wide open, and he’s pinned to the wall. He struggles, at first, before the data tells him that it is useless. He directs his efforts at Porygon2, the pokemon is being unnaturally stubborn against Uno’s wishes. His stomach hurts in what he’s come to know as Fear.

It gets worse when Donald comes. 

He should have known his friend would come for him, Donald has never abandoned him before. Why would he start now? He had thought the answer would be when Donald found out Uno was an Android. 

He was wrong about that too. 

He can see his friend’s face turn different colors from lack of oxygen and he never knew emotions could be so painful as he watches Donald’s body sink, his eyes losing the precious spark of life. It hurts more that his friend is smiling as if he is okay with dying. As if his death is something to be proud of rather than mourned. 

He screams, he yells, he thrashes, and he does not ever see the electric attack. In an instant he knows nothing. 

…

He’s booted up again and he remembers everything. 

His core functions were largely undamaged, the attack hardly overloading him for a moment before the electricity was redirected to his less important functions like his optical and auditory sensors. The first thing he sees is Ducklair in monk robes and the ceiling of the lab. 

He does not know what happened or how he returned to the lab.

He does not care. 

“One?” Ducklair asks

“Yes?”

“How are your processors?”

“Full capacity.” He answers shortly. He hurts, but nothing is wrong with his systems.

“Good, and your systems?”

“Online.”

“Capacity?”

“23%” He has no desire to move or connect to the internet or do anything other than lay on the table.

“23?” His master raises an eyebrow, “Let me guess, mobility?”

“…” No matter what he does, no matter what happened to lead him back to Ducklair. His first and only friend is gone. His best friend is gone. 

“One?”

“It hurts.” 

“Hurts? You can feel pain?”

Something warm runs down his face.

“You’re crying?!” Ducklair panics, pulling scanners over and rapidly typing into them, “Of course I gave you multiple mechanisms to allow you to blend in as a duck, but you shouldn’t feel pain or cry!”

“You told me to make a friend.” Uno explains, “I did.”

Ducklair pauses to listen, hoping for an explanation.

“He is gone. Why does it hurt so much?”

“You’ve developed emotions! Of course!” Ducklair cries excitedly then sobers and hesitates, “Do you…want me to take them away?”

For as painful as this is, he cannot do away with what was surely the result of his friendship with Donald. He is so much more than just a computer now, and he has learned much and experienced so many new and wonderful things thanks to his friend. He can’t throw it away.

“No.” He decides.

Ducklair is silent at that, thinking.

“Why have you rebooted me?”

“The pokéballs were stolen.” Ducklair explains slowly, “I need you to get them back.”

…

The voice is unmistakable, “Tramper, you are in so much trouble!”

Porygon-Z is elated to see him, but Uno can’t even manage to run through his files and it should be impossible for Donald to be here. He’s stepping over the pile of agents right as Donald sees him and his friend’s face is pure shock in the face of Uno’s agony. 

He shouldn’t be alive, but he is and Uno should have checked the records, made sure he was really dead but the stupid, wonderful biological emotions would not let him. He was too Scared. 

“Uno?”

“Donald?”

He reaches out to him and this time his friend does not sink into icy depths or ignore him to pull out a chunk of metal. He pulls his friend into a hug and he is so Happy, why is he crying?

“Is this real?” He hears Donald whisper.

“I don’t know.” Uno admits. It could be a trap, an illusion, but he does not care, “I watched you die.”

“You weren’t moving. I came up and you weren’t moving, Uno.” His friend is crying too. He can hear Donald’s voice shake. 

Someone clears their throat and he couldn’t care less about the mission in that moment. He is not just a computer that follows orders. Not anymore.


	9. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which fights are had and some reunions could be better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, this series is almost done and I am once again crying over all the nice comments. Enjoy!

The atmosphere is distinctively intimate as two friends who believed each other dead embrace one another tightly. The group watching them is silent, no one daring to move and break the moment. Some have turned to look away, embarrassed and unwilling to intrude on what seems to be a private moment. Others (like Minnie, Daisy, and Mickey) glance at each other in confusion.

The ducks in the closet are still crying silently and neither of the two is willing to let go. They’re too scared that if they do it will all turn out to be a dream.

Porygon-Z and Tramper greet one another for the first time and at some confused trills from Porygon-Z, Tramper releases Nipper from its ball. The Poliwrath and Porygon happily reunite and Beheeyem lets itself out to join in on the occasion.

The flashes of light that signify their release stirs their trainers from their little bubble of privacy.

“How did you survive?” Donald asks, quietly. He’s scared of the answer, almost certain that there is going to be a catch to his best friend’s revival. These things just don’t happen to Donald Duck.

“My creator repaired my circuits and turned me back on.” Uno whispers, keenly aware of the group of animals loitering awkwardly behind them in the hallway. “And you? How are you here? I saw you die.” The android searches his friend’s eyes for some kind of answer, desperate and afraid. Out of the two of them, Donald had the least likelihood of survival and Uno is Scared of his friend’s response.

Donald looks away and Uno can’t help the despair that seizes him. The lack of an answer only succeeds in adding to the probability of the group being trapped in an illusion or falling for some kind of trick. He doesn’t know if his core can take losing Donald again. It’s only been a year for Uno since he lost his friend, Master Ducklair had booted him up nearly a decade after the electrical attack and the android has lost a lot of time.

“Donald please.” He begs. It can’t be an illusion. It can’t.

It hurts so much.

Donald puts his hands over Uno’s and sighs, resigned. “I’m Lugia’s Chosen.”

Uno would fall to his knees in relief if he weren’t already on the floor. Yes, that makes sense - more than any other answer Donald could give him. In fact, it makes perfect sense. The message he got an hour ago repeats in his mind, reminding him that Lugia’s Chosen was supposed to have come with the guardian when it arrived.

Donald pulls his shirt up to show him a sliver of the silver and blue tattoo on his back. Uno finds that he much prefers Relief over Fear and Trepidation.

“I hate to interrupt.” Daisy says from the doorway, “But in case either of you have forgotten, we’re in the middle of an operation here.”

Uno nods, regaining his composure, “Of course.” He stands and helps Donald up, “Fortunately, part of our mission is now complete.”

“You’re here for a mission? What, are you a secret agent now?” Donald jokes, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, to both.” Uno smirks and his friend squawks in surprise. The two step out of the closet to join the rest of the group.

“Is it safe to be telling this civilian about our mission?” Agent Looker questions.

Mickey frowns at him, offended for his friend, “He’s hardly a civilian. Donald’s the best water-fighting type trainer in the world.”

“Donald’s a good guy.” Minnie vouches, “He’ll be able to help us.”

“Yeah, but I want to know how he got here.” Daisy doesn’t disagree with her friends’ statements, but she’s suspicious on how her ex got to a secluded castle in the middle of the ocean.

“He came with Lugia.” Odin says, “We can quit worrying about finding it’s Chosen.”

“Oh, do you know where he or she is, Donald?” Mickey asks, oblivious. Minnie shakes her head, amused at her boyfriend’s antics, while Daisy pinches the bridge of her nose.

“In a manner of speaking…” Donald avoids looking Mickey in the eyes.

“Great! So then all that’s left is the pokéballs!” the champion grins, his tail flicking side to side.

“Ah, yeah I heard about that,” Donald admits, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, “…when I was in the vent. Uh, they wouldn’t happen to look like these…would they?” He pulls out the dark balls Tramper took earlier from his pack.

The squad’s eyes widen, and Odin takes one from him to look at.

“These are the originals, yes, but there are four white copies the Rocket Science Team made that we still need to secure.”

“The birds and Lunala.” Daisy pieces together.

Odin nods, “The fact that we have the originals will buy us and Lugia some time. It will take a couple hours for the science team to make another and that’s assuming they’ll give up on finding the originals soon.”

Minnie turns to Donald, “How did you get them?”

“Tramper picked them up.” He points at his Togetic.

“Ah, the happiness Pokémon. It might have sensed the balls’ dark nature and entrusted them to you.” Odin offers as an explanation. Tramper gives a happy cry from the closet, still playing with Uno’s Pokémon and Nipper. It flies over and Beheeyem latches onto Donald’s leg while Nipper stands close to Uno. The other two, smaller Pokémon fly around in a game of chase.

“How do you two know each other again?” Hau asks, observing the familiar way in which the Pokémon interact with each other.

Odin and Donald share a glance and make a unanimous decision, “We were roommates.”

…

“So, we are agreed then?” Mary Ann confirms and, at the nods of the other adults, calls in Bradley, “Tell General Westcock we need to make a custody exchange. There are five children on my ship that need to be moved immediately.”

Bradley salutes and runs off.

“How long will this take?” McDuck asks, his hands resting over the top of his cane.

“Westcock’s ship is the closest to ours. If he agrees to help, he’ll be here in fifteen minutes.” Mary Ann sits back down at the table.

“Once the kids are taken care of, what’s the plan of attack?” Fenton questions.

“There are ten military vessels headed to the Alola region as we speak, but we can expect to face the full might of Team Rainbow Rocket. Our informant has notified us that the castle is weak and the Team is calling back all of it’s members to help defend it.”

“In other words, it’s a giant free for all.” Gladstone summarizes. The goose is leaning back in his seat, his legs kicked up on the table despite his Uncle repeatedly shoving them off.

“I’d like to think there will be a bit more strategy to it than that.” Mary Ann glares at him and the Gander shrugs indifferently.

“Our priority is Donald. We go in, we get him, we get out.” DW says, “Which is why I still think it would be better for me to go alone.”

“I will not be leaving me nephew in yer hands alone! I’m going and that’s that!” Scrooge argues, waving his cane menacingly.

“I’m going too!” Fenton jumps in, “I want to help!”

“Me too.” Mary Ann adds, “I owe him my life.”

“You said that before. What do you mean?” Gladstone asks.

“If he hasn’t told you then I’m not at liberty to say.” The officer crosses her arms and determines to leave it at that.

…

“Yeah, he’s good about not telling us things.” Dewey grumbles. The kids are all hovered around Gosalyn’s earpiece trying to listen in. They can’t sneak past Beakley to talk to Gladstone, so they’re left waiting for an opportunity.

They’re starting to think it will never come.

“How are we supposed to get to Gladstone within fifteen minutes? Especially with Beakley guarding the door?” Huey wonders aloud.

“Well, unless one of you can teleport, he’s our only option.” Gosalyn points out.

“Can one of the Beasts teleport? Maybe we could try using them?” Louie suggests

“None of them are psychic types. Besides, we aren’t Chosen yet.” Huey shakes his head.

“Celebi is a psychic type.” Webby interjects, her face screwed up in thought.

“I thought you said she wouldn’t come back until the ‘right time’?” Dewey crosses his arms.

“Who says this isn’t the right time?” Louie argues, trying to stay optimistic.

“Does something smell weird to you guys?” Gosalyn sniffs the air, curious. The other children follow her lead and frown when none of them can place the sweet scent. Out of the vent, a single piece of pollen floats down. Huey notices it and catches it in his hand. He holds it out for the others to see.

“Sleep spore!” Gosalyn shouts.

…

They are not bonded yet, but there is an occasional wisp of muted feelings from the children they have chosen. It is rare for them to sense their Chosen’s emotions, only the strongest are able to break through the weak link they’ve established with them.

Something is very wrong.

Lugia’s warning has already put them on edge and the spike of fear in their Chosen’s hearts sends them over the edge.

A couple miles away from the ship, three beasts already charging toward the boat pick up the pace.

…

“We’re under attack!” A watchman shouts from the mast.

A large blue submarine surfaces next to the ship. It’s bright color cutting through the dark water and as the vessel leaves the embrace of the ocean, the white logo of Team Aqua glares at the officers on deck. Out of the top hatch, multiple grunts climb out with their Pokémon.

The Team has mounted a surprise attack.

The two boats descend into chaos, the air filling with a cacophony of shouts and commands from trainers directing their Pokémon in battle. The water surrounding the two ships becomes deadly and vicious. Surfs and Whirlpools twist the water angrily, the two sides desperately trying to keep their respective ships afloat. Bubbles and jets of scalding water stream across the deck at different targets. Rainbows flicker throughout the area, the sun’s rays shining down on the separate battles until someone finally uses Rainy Day and the world darkens.

In the Captain’s Quarters, the adults hear the shouting and a soldier raps on the door to report about the incoming attack.

Mary Ann orders the other adults to stay in the cabin, their safety is her priority, and she storms out of the room and onto the deck. Her Empoleon dispatches a Tentacool with a single swipe of its claws. Her entrance onto the battlefield is signaled by an imposing shout from both her and her partner Pokémon.

Their revenge has been a long time coming.

…

“What’s that smell?” Fenton asks not long after Mary Ann leaves.

“Sleep spore!” Drake shouts the second he gets a whiff, and he releases his bat Pokémon, “Crobat, clear it out!”

The purple creature beats it’s four wings and blows the pollen away. Scrooge opens a window, allowing most of it to be forced out. Fenton shouts, “Blathering Blatherskite!” into his phone and the suit breaks through the door to attach itself to him. Beakley stands in the remains of said door and doesn’t look amused.

“We’re not really going to stay here, are we?” Gladstone grumbles, already knowing the answer. He hates work. Maybe he can just stay here and let the others take care of it.

“Come on Gladstone.” Scrooge hooks the back of the goose’s shirt with his cane. The Gander sulks as his Uncle drags him out of the room. He doesn’t want to fight, he wants his cousin back. Shouldn’t his luck be taking care of this?

…

The kids bolt out of the room, trying to escape the pollen. None of their Pokémon have counter moves and the ducklings are forced to leave. They don’t get far down the hallway before they run into a pair of Team Aqua grunts as they round the corner. The gas masks that obscure the criminals’ faces make them look twice as menacing.

“Well, well, what have we here?” The woman sneers and reaches for the kids.

The children’s Pokémon leap into action at the kids’ orders and the grunts barely have any time to react to their fainted Krabby and Politoed before they’re knocked out from well-placed blows to the head by Webby and Gosalyn.

“Hey!” A voice shouts down the hall. A squad of grunts appear at the other end of the hallway, almost instantly noticing the kids in front of their downed teammates.

“Run!” Huey screams and the kids dart away. They high tail it over to the conference room they were at before, it’s the closest safe space they know of.

Webby glances behind them and notices that they aren’t being followed. She takes a moment to wonder at how strange that is when Dewey starts coughing.

Unfortunately, the grunts are the least of their problems. Dewey is slowing down, Louie is trying to keep his eyes open, and Huey collapses on the ground. Gosalyn and Webby do their best to herd the boys into the conference room, fighting their own sluggish bodies but they can’t even reach the door before they too succumb to the pollen.

…

Three roars fill the air, momentarily putting a stop to the fighting on the ship.

Scrooge and the other heroes are on the deck, ferociously taking it back and leaving the water battles to the officers. Gladstone sits outside, enjoying the breeze while his opponents slip and knock themselves out. Mary Ann is in the control room sending out an SOS and giving her soldiers orders. The ducks turn to the source of the noise.

The legendary beasts have arrived.

Suicune bounds over the submarine, pulling an ocean wave with him and filling the vessel with water. Entei burns away the sleep pollen below deck with the skill and precision befitting of a minor deity. At Raikou’s roar, Team Aqua members are struck with lighting that threads its way between the naval officers and their Pokémon to hit the group of criminals. Mary Ann flinches at the sight.

A soft cry from above draws everyone’s attention to a small green Pokémon hovering over the ship. Before anyone can react, the vessel is engulfed by a bright light.

…

Lugia has silently been glaring at Giovanni the entire time it’s been trapped.

Dog and Pokémon eye each other, one with a righteous fury and the other with desire.

“Sir, we can’t find the balls.” A grunt comes stuttering up next to the boss. Giovanni gives the grunt a deadly glare, “But! But, we have a replica already made! Sir!” the grunt tries to appease him and hands over a white pokéball.

His glare doesn’t soften, but he does take the ball, “You have two hours to find the originals.” His voice drips with the promise of dire consequences and the grunt is sent scuttling off.

Giovanni smirks at Lugia. Now all he has to do is get it to lower its shield and he knows exactly how to make that happen.

…

Donald’s head shoots up and his eyes grow wide with horror.

The group in the basement is in the middle of ironing out the details of their plan to free the captured legendaries. Odin’s plan is good, but there are multiple little details in it that have to go right for it to work. Everyone is trying to make sure they know their part well enough to pull it off.

Donald had been listening carefully next to his friends when Lugia’s voice stole his attention, ‘Donald.’

‘Don’t you dare!’ He yells, but both Chooser and Chosen know exactly what’s going to happen.

“Donald?” Odin glances at him. The duck’s entire demeanor changed at the drop of a hat, his determination morphing into outright panic.

“He’s threatening the birds.” Donald rushes to explain and he stands up, nearly stumbling over himself in his panic. He’s trying and failing to stay calm, “The plan is going to have to change.”

The group gives him confused looks while he calls Tramper and Nipper back to their balls. Odin and his other friends look alarmed, “Donald, what’s going on?”

“Lugia is going to take down his shield,” Donald’s breathing quickens, “and when he does, Lunala will find me.”

Odin’s alarm changes to outright horror as the bright light of teleport appears and seizes his friend, “Get to the elevator, now!” He commands with a shout. He lost his friend once, it won’t happen again.

…

He feels the grip of Teleport on his body for the second time in an hour and he and Lugia make a split-second decision.

They’re going down swinging.

…

White light blinds Giovanni as Lugia’s Chosen is forcibly summoned to their location by his command. He and his scientists are confused when the light doesn’t immediately fade and none of them realize something is wrong until the Rocket leader notices the change of the light’s color from blinding white to burning orange.

…

An explosion makes the elevator shudder.

Animals hold onto each other to keep from falling over and Odin braces himself against the wall.

“What’s happening?” Someone shouts over the rumble. The elevator continues its ascension and when the door finally dings open it’s to a warzone. Lugia is up and in the air, heavily wounded from the birds’ attacks. Its body has multiple burns marring its skin and it leaves the Pokémon with patches of red that clash horribly with its softer blue and silver colors. Every movement must be agony for the Legendary, but still, it flies.

Lugia leads the birds out of the castle, through the hole it made earlier, and Donald’s Pokémon are taking on the entire floor of grunts while Donald himself is going head to head with Lunala, distracting it. With the purple aura of Dragon Rush around him, he looks more like a Pokémon than a duck.

“You know your roles, go!” Odin directs the squad and the group breaks. The Champions go to help Donald distract Lunala and Giovanni while the rest take care of Team Rainbow Rocket.

…

They’re hurt.

The burns make every movement torturous and the combined attack of the birds nearly separated their minds and rendered the Aeroblast null. It is through sheer willpower alone that they stayed connected and managed to startle Giovanni into dropping the pokéball. It is a shame they missed Giovanni himself.

‘No!’ Donald’s conscious argues, ‘No deaths!’

Lugia disapproves, but now is not the time for them to fight. If they unmerge now, then they are both doomed. Donald is using Lugia’s power to distract Lunala and Lugia is harnessing their linked minds to share the burden of pain, allowing Lugia to take to the sky and lure the birds away.

This had not been part of Odin’s plan, but Uno has always been a smart duck. He’ll make it work.

Donald has a hard time thinking about his friend. The merge is confusing in and of itself, he can’t afford to be distracted. He’s in two places at once and he discovers that the less he thinks about it, the better off he is. He dodges a Moon Beam, swoops out of the way of an Ice Beam, uses Dragon Rush on Lunala, uses Aeroblast on Zapdos, he’s fighting the birds, he’s fighting the moon Pokémon, he flying through the sky, he’s running on land, he sees blue sky, he sees white walls - it’s overwhelming.

He doesn’t know who he is.

He doesn’t know where he is.

He just knows the desperate desire to stay alive - the pain of a father fighting his children.

Articuno lands an attack on Lugia and he feels it. His world explodes and Lunala seizes the opening to attack with another Moon Beam. A large silver light heads straight for him.

Something small rams into his side and he doesn’t know if Lugia has been hit again or if he’s the one who’s being tackled.

The merge breaks on his end and his Chooser’s power leaves him. He can still feel the pain of Lugia’s wounds and he would very much like to go home. He blinks hard in an attempt to regain his bearings while the sounds of Pokémon battles rage around him. The cool feel of the floor tiles against his back tells him he’s on the floor.

“So how long have you been able to blow things up with your bill?” A voice breaks through his daze and Uno’s face appears above him. Porygon-Z buzzes around him and Beheeyem pats Donald’s arm helpfully.

“A week.” He groans and lifts his head to look around. His Pokémon are helping the task force take down grunts without his orders.

Killick sprints from ally to ally, using Helping Hand when he can and darting behind enemies to use Sacred Sword at any opening he sees. Captain is putting his cannons to good use and blasting multiple enemies at once with Flash Cannon and Hydro Pump, any Pokémon that tries to get close is met with a remorseless Skull Bash. Hawser is in Nipper’s arms, the two tag teaming grunts that get too close to the hole outside. Nipper uses Surf and Waterfall, simultaneously drenching the floor and helping the Kingdra in it’s grasp stay hydrated while Hawser snipes any unfortunate Pokémon it catches in it’s sight with Ice Beam, Dragon Pulse, and Water Gun. Aqua is ferocious in it’s attacks, the Gyrados targeting cocky grunts with grass and ice type Pokémon with Fire Blast and Hyper Beam. Allision is going to town on any unfortunate grunt that catches the Primeape’s eye.

A scientist runs by with Tramper and Mizzen chasing her. The Azumarill and Togetic are happy as can be to help out. Captain calls out to them and they leave the scientist to fly over to the older Pokémon. Donald has no idea what Captain tells them but the two are soon over by Agua who has been using Splash next to Nipper the entire fight. The two pick the Magikarp up in their tiny arms and help the fish Pokémon Tackle unsuspecting enemies by running at them full force.

Donald wants to cry, he loves his team so much. They’re helping each other fight and giving aid to their allies without him ever having to say a word to them.

“They’re really something.” Uno says, grinning at the three younger Pokémon’s antics.

Donald whistles and his Pokémon leave their different battles to return to his side. “What’s the plan?”

“Are you able to help the others take down the remaining grunts?” Uno looks down at him skeptically, “The Champions are focused on Giovanni, we just need to take down the rest of Team Rocket before their reinforcements show up.”

Donald hauls himself to his feet, “What about you?”

“My work here is done.” Uno smirks and stands with him. He had long since snuck the chips onto the white pokéballs thanks to his own Pokémon’s skillful use of Psychic.

“Been a while since we’ve worked together.” Donald cracks his neck, ready for a fight.

“I haven’t changed.”

“I have.”

“No, you haven’t”

They smile at each other and Donald laughs, “I’ve missed you, partner.”

…

It doesn’t take long. He really has missed this. He and Uno make a formidable team and with the combined might of the champions, the task force, Uno, and Donald Team Rainbow Rocket is defeated.

The champions overwhelm Giovanni, fainting his Pokémon and Lunala by the time the rest of them are done with the grunts. The boss recalls the moon Pokémon and scowls. His castle is in shambles, his Pokémon are defeated, and his grunts are in cuffs.

“You’ve lost Giovanni.” Minnie declares.

He glances out of the hole in the castle and smirks, “Not yet.”

The group follows his gaze and tenses at the sight that greets them. Team Magma and Team Aqua ships surround the castle. Overhead, multiple choppers sport Team Galactic and Team Flare logos. Long ranged Pokémon attacks are fired out at Lugia who is still trying to fend off the birds. Donald hasn’t felt another hit since Articuno’s, but at this rate, it will only be a matter of time.

“What do we do?” Looker asks.

“Follow the plan.” Odin answers and he gives Donald a pointed look.

‘Lugia, now!’

The legendary banks hard towards the castle. It passes by the hole with the birds following closely behind it. When they pass, the group launches multiple attacks at the birds and Mickey, Minnie, and Daisy call the birds back to their balls while they’re stunned from the assault.

“Yes!” The group cheers.

It’s short-lived. The disappearance of the birds reveals their position to the other Teams and a plethora of attacks are directed their way. “Hit the deck!” Crystal shouts and multiple things happen at once.

The attacks hit the castle, destroying what little is left of its structural support and setting in motion the large building’s collapse.

One of the grunts from Team Galactic gets lucky and strikes Lugia with a Magnet Bomb. The guardian faints and falls to the ocean.

Donald, who is still sharing Lugia’s pain, feels the attack and passes out.

A warship appears in a flash of light along with four Legendaries.

Everyone on the deck of the warship sees Lugia fall.

…

The beasts see Lugia’s body plummet into the ocean with three types of burns on it’s body: ice, electric, and fire.

Suicune sprints across the water to where Lugia fell and starts circling the spot anxiously. Raikou leaps into the castle to find the culprits. Entei goes to the children they’ve Chosen with Celebi at his heel.

Raikou lands with a thunderous roar. It sees Lugia’s Chosen being guarded by both Pokémon and mortal alike. Raikou ignores them for now, he has a different target. He spots them in their balls, near Lugia’s Chosen. Three of the mortals are holding them in their hands.

The beast of lightning bristles and growls at the sight of the birds.

The mortal holding Lugia’s chosen notices his gaze and says something to the other mortals. Raikou does not care for their conversation, he wants the birds.

The mortals hold the balls out to him and it eases some of the rage clouding his mind. He snatches up the balls in his teeth and shatters them with a snap of his jaw.

The birds are released.

…

“Are you sure those chips worked?” Hau questions, watching the champions hold the balls out for Raikou. He’s crouched with the rest of the force around Donald’s prone form.

Raikou’s appearance had been alarming and Odin had been the one to suggest handing the birds over. The champions stand determinedly between Raikou and the rest of the task force while the castle crumbles around them. Looker is reluctantly releasing Team Rainbow Rocket in order to allow them a chance to save themselves.

“The chips reversed the process of the pokéballs, they only needed to be recalled for a few seconds.” The duck says, holding Donald close. They don’t know what’s wrong with him. Odin’s systems tell him his friend is alive, but there’s hardly a scratch on him.

“We need to get out of here before this whole place falls on our heads!” Mickey shouts as the birds are released.

The reactions are immediate. Raikou attacks first and then all four legendaries are fighting.

The weather takes a turn.

…

Scrooge sees Lugia go down and his heart stops.

If Lugia is dead, what did that mean for Donald?

Gladstone runs over to him, “Uncle Scrooge, did you see that?”

He looks over at his nephew. The Gander is very clearly scared for his cousin. His shoulders are hunched, and his legs are shaking. Scrooge squashes his own fear and straightens his spine, “We need to find Donald.”

Entei bursts out onto the deck with Celebi and the children following.

“Uncle Scrooge, what happened?” Webby asks

“Dad!” Gosalyn shouts and runs over to Darkwing Duck.

“We’ll explain later, we need to find your Uncle.” Scrooge says

Entei makes a gentle noise at Huey and the duckling says, “He’s in the castle with Raikou!”

Scrooge whirls around to look back at the crumbling castle. Chunks of the building tumble into the water and it won’t be long before the rest of the castle follows. A loud BOOM comes from one of the holes in the castle and dust billows out. From it, the three birds come out fighting one another.

The weather takes a strange and dangerous turn.

The choppers are spooked into motion as hurricanes and lightning strikes narrowly miss them and the rapid movement causes some to collide with each other. Explosions dot the sky, smoke overtaking the choppers as they malfunction and crash to the water below. Some of the boats are picked up by the hurricanes and others are caught in the crossfire of the fight. An Ice Beam heads straight for them and Entei counters it with Flamethrower. Fenton and Victini use their powers to keep the boat protected from the weather while DW and Darkrai do their best to help Entei stop any incoming attacks.

“Mr. McDuck!” Gizmoduck calls, “Go get Donald, we’ll protect the boat!”

“How do we get up there?”

“You four aren’t going anywhere!” Scrooge shouts, “Yer staying on the boat!”

“Jirachi can teleport us up there.” Gladstone offers and at Scrooge’s nod, the two vanish.

…

The light of Teleport startles the group still inside the castle and jaws hit the floor when Scrooge McDuck appears from it. Next to him is a duck in green that the Champions recognize as Donald’s cousin Gladstone.

“Donald!” Scrooge shouts at the sight of his horrifyingly still nephew. The two ducks rush over to him and the task force hurries out of their way. Scrooge places a hand on Donald’s forehead as if checking for a fever.

“There’s nothing physically wrong with him.” The duck holding him says. Scrooge looks up to snap at him when Gladstone speaks, “It’s Lugia.”

The Gander is staring at his cousin in horror and takes a limp hand into his own, “They’re dying.”

The duck holding Donald makes a strangled noise.

“We need to get out of here!” Daisy yells, “We’ll take care of Lugia once we’re all safe from this castle!”

“The elevator doesn’t work!” Looker shouts, behind him Team Rainbow Rocket is doing their best to get it working again.

“The weather is too dangerous for us to try to swim for it!” Hau warns.

“Gladstone, can ye teleport all of us?” Scrooge turns to his nephew.

“One at a time maybe but-” Gladstone worries. He’s not used to this kind of stress – he doesn’t like it, why is his luck abandoning him like this?

“Do it! Them first,” He waves at the task force, “I have an idea.”

Scrooge looks down at his nephew. There’s no time for Gladstone to get everyone out, they need help – Donald needs help. Scrooge does something he thought he’d never do.

‘Heatran.’

A presence stirs in the back of his mind.

‘I need your help.’


	10. Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bridges are mended and formed. None are burned.

The barrier between their minds shatters, Heatran’s presence dropping warmly over his mind and surrounding him.

‘Why?’ It’s less of a question and more of a statement. Heatran’s steady and lethargic voice is nearly overtaken by the crashing and rumbling of the castle crumbling around them. The largest part of it, a tower in the center that casts a shadow on the group, will destabilize the ground they’re standing on if it falls. 

‘Me Nephew needs help.’ Scrooge says, sad and desperate, ‘Whatever you want. I’ll sever our bond. I’ll give you me money. I’ll give you me dime.’

His nephew is pale and limp under his hands. Scrooge has got a tight grip around his dwindling pulse and a hand brushing gently over Donald’s head feathers.

Animals are panicking around him, shouting and screaming. Winks of light spark just out of the corner of his eyes. Gladstone teleports in and out as fast as he can. It’s not fast enough and everyone, including Scrooge, knows it.

The group is backed against open air, keeping away from the falling bricks. A chunk of ceiling falls and it won’t be much longer before the castle caves in on itself. 

They need help and Scrooge is the only person that has the ability to give it.

‘Whatever you want.’ He repeats when Heatran is silent. He can feel the legendary appraising him, a familiar burning gaze from magma colored eyes staring through him and into his very soul. 

‘Where is the Magma Stone?’

Scrooge glances at his cane, the black polished metal had been dropped in favor of Donald the moment the uncle saw his nephew. ‘It never left my side.’

‘How fortunate that you kept it with you all this time.’ Heatran says, a hint of surprise and smugness in his voice.

‘Fortune had nothing to do with-’ Scrooge starts to scoff and a spark out of the corner of his eye stops him.

He huffs, ‘What about it?’

Scrooge gets his answer when Heatran emerges from his pokéball. The lava dome Pokémon stands proudly with its head held high in the midst of the chaos. If the other animals react, Scrooge doesn’t notice.

‘The stone.’

He reaches down and pushes a hidden latch on his cane. The bottom opens, and a bright orange and red stone rolls out. It’s very presence fills the air with a sweltering and oppressive heat. Heatran opens his metallic maw and roars.

The sunset colored stone resonates and glows. The air hums with power and a circle of red burns into existence around the group. A haze forms from the heat and extends up from the circle, encasing the group in a cylinder and distorting the area around them.

Heatran crouches and a loud FWOOM is all that signals the column of lava that claws up the haze to the ceiling with the tenacity and ferocity of a dog on the hunt. It’s as if a volcano erupted and left the group untouched in the eye of the storm.

The lava cascades down and incinerates everything in it’s path. High pitched hissing and whining come from all sides as the cool metal and bricks are scorched by the scalding heat.

Scrooge’s senses are overwhelmed. He can hardly breathe through the heat and the smell of burning brick and metal is so awful and powerful he can taste it in the back of his throat. His eyes burn from the fumes and from how much light the lava gives off.

Everyone is sweating and coughing.

He sees someone haul their friend away from the lava that still surrounds them. It’s a miracle none of them were hit by a splash of the molten liquid. Scrooge suspects Heatran has something to do with that.

The legendary crawls over and doesn’t even flinch when it steps into the lava. To his shock, the legendary disappears in what had seemed to be only a couple feet of lava. The ground beneath them vibrates as Heatran crawls under them.

Another, slightly more muted FWOOM sounds from below and Heatran reemerges. The lava sluggishly rolls off of it, first revealing its metal head and then it’s brown body. The others give it a wide berth when a drenched claw reaches out and grips the inside of their circle.

“Please tell me it didn’t do what I think it did.” A duck speaks.

“There’s a floor below us, what are we standing on?!” A mouse panics.

‘Others are here.’ Heatran says, ignoring them.

Scrooge looks out over the water and see the chaotic weather, hurricanes traveling in odd, fast patterns and lightning striking wherever and whoever it wants. The ocean is partly ice now and at first Scrooge doesn’t see them.

It’s not until a very large and very blue head breaks through it that he even gets an inkling about what is going on. He squints harder and he can see all types of Pokémon watching the birds fight from a relatively safe distance. The wailord by the castle is the only one close enough for Scrooge to see without straining his eyes.

‘They’ve come to see the end.’ Scrooge theorizes and Heatran rumbles in agreement.

‘Without Lugia to stop them, the birds will destroy everything.’ The legendary explains, ‘Their battle will start to move, and many lives will be lost in its wake.’

‘Does it have to be Lugia?’ Scrooge holds Donald’s wrist tighter.

‘The ones that can are asleep and the rest are powerless.’

‘Even ye?’ Scrooge asks, disbelieving.

‘I could take one, not all three, and even if I were to defeat them I would not be able to stop their fighting. We need Lugia.’ Heatran turns toward the waters where the guardian of the sea had fallen. Two Pokémon that Scrooge can’t make out hover around it.

‘Then what are ye waiting fer?’ Scrooge demands.

‘In this, I cannot help.’ Heatran admits and continues before Scrooge can start yelling, ‘Rest assured, there are others.’

…

“That’s not fair!” Dewey yells once Uncle Gladstone and Uncle Scrooge disappear, “We want to help too!”

Darkwing and Gizmoduck grunt as they fend off Articuno’s stray Ice Beam. The white of Gizmoduck’s suit is obscured by the purple power of psychic and Darkwing is just a moving shadow at this point.

Mary Ann leads her officers in rounding up and arresting Team Aqua. Quite a few have already been put in cuffs and placed in the middle of the boat. A couple of the officers stand watch over them.

Launchpad, Mrs. Beakley, and Mrs. Cabrera are helping the officers. The three come in and out of the cabins with more and more grunts. Huey wonders just how many grunts there were on the boat.

Gosalyn is helping her father and Gizmoduck. Her Ekans, Cubone, and Chimchar excitedly working alongside the heroes.

The other children are hanging onto the railing and watching the castle with mixed emotions. Huey eyes it with an anxious curiosity, Dewey with sadness and anger, and Louie with worry. 

Entei pads over with Celebi, his brown fur catching Huey’s attention when it comes up next to him. The legendary growls softly.

Huey grins, “Guys hop on!”

His brothers don’t question him, and the triplets climb on the beast’s back. Celebi coos at Webby and she grabs onto the little green Pokémon without anymore prompting. Before any of the adults can stop them, they’re gone.

Entei bounds off the boat over to Suicune. The aurora Pokémon pauses briefly in its circling to allow Dewey to jump onto his Chooser’s back. The blue beast waits long enough to allow it’s Chosen to get a good grip on its purple mane, so he won’t fall off, before it resumes its task. Celebi and Webby stay with the two when the beast of fire turns and goes over to Raikou.

The third beast is watching the birds fight from atop the castle.

Entei roars and the two growl at one another. A heated conversation passes between them until finally, Raikou relents.

Entei lets Louie off his back so he can climb onto Raikou’s. Once he’s on the Legendaries leap off the castle and join the birds’ battle.

The two beasts start to attack the birds, trying to get their attention off of one another. Without Lugia to stop the birds, the duty has to fall to the beasts. They keep their distance, fully aware of the little ducklings on their backs.

Raikou never stops moving and almost exclusively goes after Moltres and Articuno. Entei follows suit and only attacks Zapdos and Articuno. They are cautious in their fighting, switching off blows so that the birds don’t focus on one of the beasts for too long.

They leap from boat to boat, uncaring of the destruction they leave in their wake. The criminals have been harassing Pokémon for far too long for the beasts to really care.

The children hang on to their Choosers tightly. It is obvious that they are scared, but more than anything, they are determined to help in whatever way they can.

“Entei! Articuno is right behind us!” Huey yelps and Entei swivels around to see.

A FWOOM distracts Huey and the pillar of lava gives him an idea.

At the same time Louie has an epiphany of his own.

“Raikou, the canyons!”

The beast of thunder makes a confused rumble but darts over towards the island anyway, his paws only touching air as Moltres follows hot on their heels.

“Go into the canyon, we can trick it into flying into our own rockslide!” Raikou roars, emboldened by his Chosen’s plan.

Over by the castle Huey and Entei are following a similar train of thought. Articuno, blinded by it’s anger, rashly follows them over to the lava. Entei bounds up the side of the remains of the castle and flips over to land on Articuno right as the bird starts to fly over the lava. Entei pushes off of the bird, kicking it into the lava and lands safely on what little of the castle isn’t covered in the lava yet.

Articuno cries out in pain, thrashing and rolling into the ocean with a splash.

Moltres faces a similar challenge in the form of the makeshift rockslide. At Louie’s signal, Raikou strikes a cliff as the fire bird passes beneath it. It screeches as boulders and rocks bury it at the bottom of the canyon.

A roll of thunder and a victorious cry from Zapdos brings the beasts attention to the last bird. The two beasts bound over to confront him together when the ground and water erupt as the other two birds emerge, wounded but not beaten. The fight is far from over.

The birds screech, outraged, and go to restart the fight when they’re hit by something. Louie and Huey follow the attack back to multiple warships.

The Military has arrived.

…

Suicune continues to circle the spot where Lugia fell.

It sniffs occasionally and narrows its circle continuously.

“What are we doing?” Dewey asks.

Suicune whines and Celebi chirps.

“We’re looking for Lugia.” Webby answers above him, “This was where it fell.”

Celebi coos and Suicune stops circling. The beast braces itself and roars. Nothing seems to happen at first, Dewey shifts so he can get a better view. The water moves, almost like a fountain, as Suicune draws it upwards.

Dewey hears a FWOOM and turns to see a pillar of lava come out of the castle and rain down on top of it. His eyes narrow and he puts his hand above his eyes in order to see better. He spots Entei with Articuno close behind and he and Webby yell victoriously when his brother and his Chooser send the ice bird into the lava.

He turns back, excited and reinvigorated.

Celebi glows as it uses Psychic, but it’s not clear why until a dark shape starts to grow in the water. As it gets closer to the surface, Dewey can see the silver skin.

“It’s Lugia!” Dewey exclaims, “They found it!”

The color of Celebi’s glow shifts from purple to green. Suicune doesn’t bring Lugia out of the water, allowing the guardian the comfort of its own domain.

An outraged screech draws Dewey’s attention back over to the castle, a burnt Articuno is back in the air. It’s ice blue feathers are singed from the damage it took from the lava and it looks mad.

It starts to charge an ice beam when it’s hit in the back by a blast of fire.

Dewey and Webby follow the attack back to a large warship. A small group splits off from the ships and rapidly approaches them. Medics and officers cautiously come up to them. Suicune and Celebi do not show any outwards aggression towards the group. The officers take that as a sign that they can move closer.

“We’d like to help.” One of them, a dog, says.

Suicune steps to the side and Celebi stays silent.

Dewey and Webby share a look.

“I’m pretty sure you can take that as a yes.” Webby shrugs.

The medics release their Pokémon and start to help heal Lugia. The military ships help the others hold off the birds while they take care of Lugia. Between the medics’ Pokémon and Celebi, it doesn’t take long for Lugia to be completely healed.

The Master of the Birds bursts out of the water and releases a roar of power that makes the very air shake from the force.

The mortals present, now drenched in water, are left in awe of it’s beauty and power. 

Dewey and Webby whoop happily and watch as the guardian beats it’s wings once and takes off into the sky.

It has a job to do.

…

The sound of a bell brings him into awareness.

The sun shines pleasantly down on him from the blue sky. It’s a gorgeous day. He’s standing in his uniform, a pack of his belongings slung over his shoulder, and a sea of people around him.

The crowd moves like a herd of sheep, paying each other little attention and a different destination in each of their minds. He does the same as the others and doesn’t spare a thought for the people around him, but unlike everyone else, he’s found his destination.

He’s made it.

His ship is in front of him, restored to it’s former glory and he smiles as old friends and crew members wave at him from the deck. His parents are there too, calling out to him. He takes a step forward to greet them.

A hand lands on his shoulder.

He turns and there’s his sister. After so many years, she stands before him as if she hasn’t aged a day.

“Donald!” She laughs and pulls him into a hug.

“Della!” He wraps his arms around her. It’s been so long since he last saw his twin, he has half a mind to never let go.

His friends call him.

“Come to see me off?” He asks, pulling away.

Della’s expression shifts to confusion, “What?”

“I’m going away Dumbella.” He smiles, “I’m going to go see the world.”

“Donny, no. You can’t.” She looks scared now. Her eyes are wide, and her beak is pulled into a frown.

He’s confused.

“Why not?” He asks.

He’s sad.

Why is he sad?

“You know I’ve always wanted to. Look, everyone else is here! And I’ve already packed!”

He shows her his pack. His eyes start to water, and his cheeks burn.

“I can just go, right now, with them.”

He’s crying.

Why is he crying?

“I can leave. It would be so easy…”

Della hugs him again, she’s crying too. He tries to turn his head to look back at the ship, but Della doesn’t let him.

“They’re right there.” He sobs, “Della, they’re right there.”

“Not yet.” She whispers, “I promise you can go with them, but not yet.”

“Why?” He whines.

He doesn’t understand.

Suddenly they’re much younger, and the barn from Grandma’s farm is in front of him. The crowd and the harbor are gone. He doesn’t need to look to know the ship and its occupants are gone as well.

“There are people who need you.” Della says.

“No.” He protests, “They don’t need me.”

“Donald, believe me. They do.” She pulls back and gives him an earnest look.

He relents and sags into her embrace, “Alright.”

“Go back Donald.” Della says softly, “It’s not time for you to join us yet.”

…

A soul shaking roar wakes him up.

He’d go back to sleep but the stench of sulfur invading his senses stops that train of thought real quick. He goes to sit up and two pairs of hands help him. He groggily blinks his eyes open and two faces appear on either side of him.

A large silver and blue bullet hurtles past them and barrels straight into Zapdos, before banking around to strike Articuno. The two birds smack into the water and everyone winces at the noise. Lugia turns on Moltres and snags its neck like a mother cat picking up her kitten.

Donald is too shocked to see his Uncle to watch any of this happen.

“Donald, lad, how are ye feeling?” Scrooge asks, his hand wrapping around Donald’s wrist.

“Pretty good actually.” Donald notes with surprise. He had been in agony before he passed out, “When did you get here?”

Scrooge shakes his head, “Not soon enough.”

Donald has had a far too stressful day to start dissecting that sentence so instead, he turns to Uno, “Did we win?”

Uno looks like he’s had a long day as well, but he smirks at Donald and says, “What do you think?”

Donald gives him a bemused look and the android shrugs and gestures to the area around them.

The castle is gone, it’s walls and towers melted by Heatran’s Lava Storm and what little hadn’t been engulfed by the lava had crashed into the waters below. Donald and the rest of the animals are safe on the makeshift island Heatran made with the Wailord.

Without the castle walls to obscure their view, the group has a front row seat to everything. They can see the military ships that are drawing in, the birds flying off, the beasts happily bolting around, and the remaining Teams being arrested.

Storm clouds are dissipating, allowing the sun to peek through. The hurricanes are gone and aside from the odd pattern of ice in the ocean, it looks as if the fight never took place.

To Donald, it’s like waking up to find the house trashed with his nephews just starting to clean it up.

“What happened?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Uno says.

“How long was I out?”

“Twenty (20) minutes and fifty-two (52) seconds.” Uno gets odd looks from the people around him.

“Nephew, who is this?” Scrooge demands.

“This is Uno, he was my roommate.” Donald introduces, “Uno, this is my Uncle Scrooge.”

“Uncle Donald!” Huey’s voice comes from over his Uncle’s shoulder and Donald turns to see his nephew riding on Entei’s back. Next to him, Louie is riding Raikou.

“Did we miss anything?” Dewey, who is riding Suicune, pops up behind Uno and close behind him, Webby flies over with Celebi.

Donald’s temper spikes at the sight of his children acting so familiar with their Choosers. It’s only Lugia’s assurance that they haven’t bonded that stops him from laying into the beasts.

That, and Webby squealing when she sees the Champions.

“You’re Mickey Mouse! One of Donald’s best friends and Minnie Mouse’s boyfriend!” She points at Mickey and then she whirls on Minnie, “You’re Minnie Mouse! Master Rank Contestant and Champion of the Alola region!”

She gasps when she sees Daisy, “You’re Daisy Duck! Top Coordinator and Champion of the Kalos region! Is it true you and Donald were dating?”

Daisy hardly gets the chance to respond before Webby enthuses, “All of my heroes are in one place! This is the best day ever!”

While Webby gushes over the Champions, Scrooge gives Donald a hard look and says slowly, “Donald, why does me niece know more about your social life than I do?”

Donald nervously glances at everything that isn’t his Uncle. He doesn’t want to have this conversation in front of everyone.

He’s saved by Mary Ann.

“Uno?!”

Her ship is anchored next to the makeshift island, ready to pick up the group and take them home. The ship is just a bit taller than the island and she and the others are watching from the deck. Mrs. Beakley hops off and comes over to Webby while Mary Ann stands still and pale.

Uno gives Donald a panicked look. Donald leaves him to his fate, “You dug your own grave, lie in it.”

“I don’t know what that means!” Uno whisper shouts. Mary Ann’s face contorts with rage.

“It means you’re on your own.” Donald says as she jumps down from the deck.

“Donald please!”

Mary Ann storms over, “I thought you were dead!”

“Mary - ” Uno raises his hands in surrender.

“We buried you!” She shouts

“I wasn’t in the casket.” Uno corrects and Donald winces, because that really wasn’t something his friend should have said.

“No shit!” Mary screeches and she gives Donald a scathing look, “Did you know?”

Donald shakes his head and the look Mary gives Uno is downright murderous, “Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I was scared.” Uno tries, visibly upset.

“Explain.”

“I’m not…good with emotions and the last thing I saw was…” Uno glances at Donald, “I didn’t want to look at the reports…It’s only been a year for me…”

Mary sighs, anger melting away, “Damn, now I can’t be mad anymore.”

“What? But I - ”

“Don’t get me wrong.” Mary interrupts, “I’m still upset with you and I’m definitely going to have a word with you later, but…” She huffs, “…if you didn’t know any better then I can’t exactly yell at you.”

Uno stares at her for a moment before nodding.

“Uh, what just happened?” Louie asks. Gladstone stands next to him, his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Uno got in trouble.” Donald teases and sobers, “He did a bad thing.”

“You are the last person I want to hear this from.” Uno grumbles.

“What did I do?” Donald asks, indignant and confused.

“You know exactly what you did.”

Donald squawks in protest while Mary nods in agreement.

Lugia laughs and Donald cranes his neck around to the guardian hovering just behind him. He pouts, “That is uncalled for. You’re all ganging up on me.”

The group laughs at his expense, despite most of them having no idea what’s going on.

Lugia’s laughter turns into chuckles and his Chooser goes to greet Heatran.

“Oh, did you make up?” Donald asks his Uncle.

The elder duck huffs not unkindly, “I did what had to be done.”

“Let’s go home, lad.”

Donald takes in the world around him. Webby is happily chatting with his old friends. The triplets are playing with their Choosers while Lugia and Heatran chirp at each other. Uno and Uncle Scrooge are on either side of him and Mary is ushering people onto the boat. His Pokémon are in their pokéballs by his side.

His family is here. His friends are here. His Pokémon are here. Everyone is safe.

It’s enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone who commented and left kudos. This fic was really only supposed to be a oneshot but thanks to Souls_Skein and other commenters it exploded into a full length story. Special thanks to Adamarinayu, Neminine, and Souls_Skein. A great big shout out to the rest of you for showering this fic in your comments, I was so nervous whenever I posted a new chapter because I wanted to do you all justice and my fears were obliterated every single time. You all have made me more confident as a writer and I enjoyed writing this fic immensely. I'll likely write some one shots later for it so if you're interested, be on the look out!
> 
> ALSO I keep forgetting to mention that the lovely Adamarinayu has made art for this and if you're interested you should really check out her tumblr. She's made multiple pieces and I just about died every time she posted one.


End file.
